HALF DIME, money. A silver coin of the United States, of the value of one- twentieth part of a dollar, or five cents. It weighs twenty grains and five-eighths of a grain. Of one thousand parts, nine hundred are of pure silver, and one hundred are of alloy. Act of January 18, 1837, s. 8 and 9, 4 Sharswood's cont. of Story's L. U. S. 2523, 4. Vide Money.