shroffn.
/ʃrɒf/, U.S. /ʃrɔf/, /ʃrɑf/ A banker or money-changer in the East; in the Far East, a native expert employed to detect bad coin.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > financial dealings > types of money-dealing > [noun] > money-changing > money changer
mintereOE
money-maker1297
changera1325
collybistc1380
moneyera1400
money changerc1400
nummularianc1429
wisseler1481
argenter1483
banker1484
exchanger1539
tablera1557
saraf1598
shroff1618
coin-courser1652
1618 in W. Foster Eng. Factories India 1618–21 (1906) 8 The sheraffs are poore and begerly.
1621 in W. Foster Eng. Factories India 1618–21 (1906) 265 Wee cannot put of oure ryalls but as that onely sharoffe please to take them.
1621 in W. Foster Eng. Factories India 1618–21 (1906) 352 Shrofes.
1625 S. Purchas Pilgrimes ii. 1431 Twelve Sheriffes that is men to buy and sell Pearles, Diamonds, and other pretious Stones, and to exchange Gold and Silver.
1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 52 Amongst whom were Shroffs, or Money-changers.
1776 Trial Maha Rajah Nundocomar for Forgery 22/2 It is the custom of Shroffs to get the body of the bond wrote by their Gomastahs, and they sign it with their own hands.
1816 ‘Quiz’ Grand Master ii. 18 The breakfast soon dispatch'd, they're off, To borrow money from a shroff.
1888 R. Kipling Departm. Ditties (ed. 3) 81 Deeply indebted to the village shroff.
1904 North-China Herald 27 May 1121/3 A shroff employed by Messrs. Musterberg & Co.
Compounds
shroff-shop n.
ΚΠ
1882 ‘Fan Kwae’ at Canton 58 I have heard of as much as fifty taels (about $70) being paid to an important Shroff-shop for such a transaction.
Derivatives
shroff v. transitive to examine (coin) in order to separate the genuine from the base; also absol.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > money > counterfeiting > counterfeit [verb (transitive)] > examine to detect counterfeit coin
shroff1757
1757 R. Clive Let. 7 July in J. Malcolm Life Robert Ld. Clive (1836) I. 278 I represented..that the money could not be divided till it was shroffed.
1906 Sat. Rev. 14 Apr. 451/1 The potential revenues of China are immense, but they are ‘shroffed’..by every hand through which they pass.
ˈshroffing n. shroffing school, a school in which the art of detecting false coin is taught.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > money > counterfeiting > [noun] > examination to detect counterfeit coin
shroffing1878
society > trade and finance > money > counterfeiting > [noun] > examination to detect counterfeit coin > school of
shroffing school1878
1878 H. A. Giles Gloss. Subj. Far East 129 Shroffing schools are common in Canton, where teachers of the art keep bad dollars for the purpose of exercising their pupils.
1882 ‘Fan Kwae’ at Canton 55 The process of shroffing which it [sc. money] underwent before being deposited in the treasury.
ˈshroffing adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > money > counterfeiting > [adjective] > detecting counterfeit coin
shroffing1860
1860 T. L. Peacock Gryll Grange xviii, in Fraser's Mag. July 61 Two stock-jobbing Jews, and a shroffing Parsee.
Draft additions March 2016
Hong Kong English. A cashier, esp. at a car park.
ΚΠ
1950 South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) 3 Nov. 7/3 An assistant shroff of the Queen Mary Hospital faced Mr. J. Reynolds at Central yesterday charged with the larceny of $10.
1973 Sunday Post-Herald (Hong Kong) 29 Apr. 23/3 (advt.) Assistant cashier. Collecting shroff. A leading public company has a vacancy for a young man of integrity to work in the cash department.
1978 Hong Kong Legislative Council: Official Rep. Proc. 9 Aug. 1281 The Commissioner of Transport..is prepared to recruit about 20 disabled people to..act as shroffs in car parks.
2000 Profession (Mod. Lang. Assoc. Amer.) 65 Here, one speaks of ‘shroffs’, which means a cashier at a parking lot.
2006 South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) 29 July 12 It is a source of endless fascination to newcomers to Hong Kong to observe types of employment in the city rarely seen in other parts of the world. Where, away from here, would you come across a shroff, for example?
Draft additions March 2016
Hong Kong English. Also more fully shroff office: a cashier's office or payment booth, esp. at a car park.
ΚΠ
1970 South China Morning Post 11 Feb. 6/5 The shroff office at the North Kowloon Court was crowded throughout the day as people queued up to pay fines for various minor offences during the Lunar New Year holiday.
1995 South China Sunday Morning Post (Hong Kong) 24 Dec. (Sunday Mag.) 8/1 See you by the shroff in five minutes. We're going out.
1996 Jrnl. Managem. in Med. (Electronic ed.) 10 A patient first queues for the shroff (cashier's office) where a fee is paid.
2005 M. Backman Inside Knowl. xxi. 225 Offices in Hong Kong that handle small payments such as parking fees in high-rise car parks are called ‘shroff offices’ or simply ‘shroffs’.
2007 S. Fallon Hong Kong (Lonely Planet) 96 The gun..is accessible..through a door marked ‘Car Park Shroff, Marina Club & Noon Gun’.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1618