dime
See also: díme, dîme, and Dime
English
A United States dime.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /daɪm/
Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -aɪm
Etymology 1
Middle English dime, from Anglo-Norman disme (“one tenth, tithe”) (modern French dîme), from Latin decimus (“tenth”).[1] Doublet of decime.
Noun
dime (plural dimes)
- (US) A coin worth one-tenth of a U.S. dollar.
- Coordinate terms: quarter, nickel, penny
- (Canada) A coin worth one-tenth of a Canadian dollar.
- (Canada, US) A small amount of money.
- She didn't spend a dime.
- (US, basketball) An assist.
- (slang) A playing card with the rank of ten.
- (slang) Ten dollars.
- (slang) A thousand dollars.
- Synonym: grand
- (slang) A measurement of illicit drugs (usually marijuana) sold in ten dollar bags.
- (slang) A ten year prison sentence.
- 2007 September 23, David Bowman, “Torchlit Crit”, in The New York Times, ISSN 0362-4331:
- These deaths got him a dime in a minimum-security prison.
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- (slang) Payment responsibility.
- Are you traveling on the company's dime?
- (US, slang) A beautiful woman (10 on a 10-point scale).
- Synonym: dime piece
- 2005, Jordan Houston, Darnell Carlton, Paul Beauregard, Premro Smith, Marlon Goodwin, David Brown, and Willie Hutchinson (lyrics), “Stay Fly”, in Most Known Unknown, Sony BMG, performed by Three 6 Mafia (featuring Young Buck, 8 Ball, and MJG):
- Make a couple of nuns a couple of dimes.
- 2008, “House Music”, in Afterparty Babies, performed by Cadence Weapon:
- Wait in line for drinks, it’s another time out / Made out on the floor with a couple dimes
- (American football) A defensive formation with six defensive backs, one of whom is a dimeback.
Synonyms
- (coin): ten cent piece (Used in other countries with dollars and cents currencies)
Derived terms
Terms derived from dime (noun)
- bet a dime to a dollar
- bet a dollar to a dime
- dime a dozen
- dimeback
- dime back
- dime-bag
- dime bag
- dime-dropper
- dime dropper
- dime museum
- dime novel
- dime piece
- dime store
- dime's worth
- drop a dime
- five and dime
- five-and-dime
- half dime
- Mercury dime
- nickel-and-dime
- nickel and dime
- not worth a dime
- on a dime
- on someone's dime
- on someone's own dime
- Yankee dime
Translations
A coin worth one-tenth of a dollar
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Translations to be checked
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See also
- buck
- dollar
- mill
- nickel
- quarter
References
- Weisenberg, Michael (2000) The Official Dictionary of Poker. MGI/Mike Caro University. →ISBN
Etymology 2
From the use of the coin in a payphone to report a crime to the police. US payphones charged 10¢ in almost all jurisdictions until the late 1970s.
Verb
dime (third-person singular simple present dimes, present participle diming, simple past and past participle dimed)
- (US, slang, with "on") To inform on, to turn in to the authorities, to rat on, especially anonymously.
- Synonyms: drop a dime on someone, dime out; see also Thesaurus:rat out
- Somebody dimed on me and I got arrested for selling marijuana.
- (US, slang) To operate an audio amplifier (especially an electric guitar amplifier) at level "10" (typically the highest amplification level).
- I get the best-sounding sustain and smooth harmonic distortion when I run the amp dimed.
References
- Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “dime”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Further reading
- Jonathon Green (2023), “dime n.”, in Green's Dictionary of Slang
Anagrams
- Demi, Diem, IMed, demi, demi-, idem, meid
Italian
Noun
dime f
- plural of dima
Anagrams
- IDEM, idem, medi
Ladino
Verb
dime
- imperative singular of dezir with first-person singular pronoun attached: tell me.
- 1979, Kamelia Shahar, “La verdadera felisidad”, in Aki Yerushalayim, number 1:
- Eliau Anavi ke lo estava mirando d'enfrente se aserko de el i le disho: Dime ombre, deke estas de negra umor ?
- The prophet Elijah, who was watching him from in front, approached him and said: Tell me, man, why are you in a bad mood?
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Norwegian Bokmål
Etymology
Borrowed from English. Ultimately from Latin decimus (“tenth”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /dɑɪ̯m/
Noun
dime m (definite singular dimen, indefinite plural dimes, definite plural dimene)
- a dime
References
- “dime” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
- “dime” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology
Borrowed from English. Ultimately from Latin decimus (“tenth”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /dɑɪ̯m/
Noun
dime m (definite singular dimen, indefinite plural dimes, definite plural dimane)
- a dime
Anagrams
- deim, demi-
Spanish
Verb
dime
- second-person singular imperative of decir combined with me
See also
- dinos
- diles