shilling
n. countablen. a British coin used in the past. It was worth twelve pennies, and twenty of them made one pound.
n. a former British unit of currency and coin, equal to one-twentieth of a pound sterling or twelve pence. Withdrawn from circulation following decimalisation in 1971.
The old man found a silver shilling in his garden.
Before the currency changed in 1971, you could buy quite a lot with a single shilling.
Historical ledgers from the Victorian era often record the weekly wages of domestic servants in shillings and pence, reflecting a rigid social and economic hierarchy.
From Middle English schilling, shilling, from Old English sċilling, from Proto-Germanic *skillingaz, equivalent to skill + -ing. Doublet of scalding and schilling.
See shill.
Commonly used in historical contexts or literature set before the 1970s.