coin. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

coin

PRONUNCIATION:	koin
NOUN:	1. A small piece of metal, usually flat and circular, authorized by a government for use as money. 2. Metal money considered as a whole. 3. A flat circular piece or object felt to resemble metal money: a pizza topped with coins of pepperoni. 4. Architecture A corner or cornerstone. 5. A mode of expression considered standard: Two-word verbs are valid linguistic coin in the 20th century.
TRANSITIVE VERB:	Inflected forms: coined, coin·ing, coins 1. To make (pieces of money) from metal; mint or strike: coined silver dollars. 2. To make pieces of money from (metal): coin gold. 3. To devise (a new word or phrase).
ADJECTIVE:	Requiring one or more pieces of metal money for operation: a coin washing machine.
IDIOM:	the other side of the coin One of two differing or opposing views or sides.
ETYMOLOGY:	Middle English, from Old French, die for stamping coins, wedge, from Latin cuneus, wedge.
OTHER FORMS:	coina·ble —ADJECTIVE coiner —NOUN


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.