dime
/dʌɪm
/noun North American
1A ten-cent coin.Instead of replacing the popular dime with another coin, it's also possible to see whether the addition of a fifth coin would help....
- People often count change by grouping pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters, a tendency indicating that, without practice, working memory can deal with only one item at a time.
- The first day he had poured out his accumulated pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters onto the table in front of his sister, his face had beamed with pride at his contribution.
1.1 informal A small amount of money: he didn’t have a dime...
- Not a dime of the money stays where it nominally is.
- Without a dime of government money we are turning thousands of people per month into independent homeowners.
- After all, no matter who goes first overall or who slides into the second half of the first round, you're not going to see a dime of that money, and neither am I.
Phrases
a dime a dozen
drop a (or the) dime on someone
get off the dime
on a dime
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French disme, from Latin decima pars 'tenth part'. The word originally denoted a tithe or tenth part; the modern sense 'ten cent coin' dates from the late 18th century.