: a former monetary unit of the United Kingdom equal to 12 pence or ¹/₂₀ pound
b
: a former monetary unit equal to ¹/₂₀ pound of any of various countries in or formerly in the Commonwealth of Nations
2
: a coin representing one shilling
3
: any of several early American coins
4
the basic monetary unit of Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda see Money Table
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the WebYet it should be noted that the capital offenses do not include crimes against property; under English law, the theft of a shilling was a hanging offense. Marilynne Robinson, Harper’s Magazine , 20 July 2022 But the frenzied shilling of NFTs has raised the stakes to such extremes that in place of effective regulation, influencers and some celebrities have started calling out one another’s behavior. Jesselyn Cook, NBC News, 22 May 2022 That's why the transparency of open shilling is actually nice. Jeva Lange, The Week, 3 Nov. 2021 The coin of rudimentary design has the initials NE for New England on one side, and the Roman numeral XII, for 12, the number of pennies in a shilling, on the other.BostonGlobe.com, 21 Oct. 2021 The coin of rudimentary design has the initials NE for New England on one side, and the Roman numeral XII, for 12, the number of pennies in a shilling, on the other. Mark Pratt, ajc, 21 Oct. 2021 Government figures say that in 2018 the average minimum wage in big cities was 19,831 Kenyan shillings, about $186 today. Tom Simonite, Wired, 19 May 2020 Third day of planting; sold four bushels of grain—x shillings; quarreled with brother. Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 10 Apr. 2020 Balala said the government has allocated 500 million Kenyan shillings ($4.8 million) for public relations and marketing post-coronavirus. Bukola Adebayo, CNN, 16 Mar. 2020 See More
Word History
Etymology
Middle English, from Old English scilling; akin to Old High German skilling, a gold coin
First Known Use
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
Time Traveler
The first known use of shilling was before the 12th century