dime: [14] Dime originally meant ‘tenth part’, and often specifically a ‘tax of one tenth, tithe’: ‘From all times it was ordained to pay dimes or tithes unto the Lord’, James Howell, Lexicon tetraglotton 1660. It came via Old French disme from Latin decima ‘tenth part’, a derivative of decem ‘ten’ (to which English ten is related). The application of the word to a coin worth one tenth of a US dollar dates from the 1780s. => decimal, ten
dime (n.)
chosen 1786 as name for U.S. 10 cent coin, from dime "a tenth, tithe" (late 14c.), from Old French disme (Modern French dîme) "a tenth part," from Latin decima (pars) "tenth (part)," from decem "ten" (see ten).
The verb meaning "to inform" (on someone) is 1960s, from the then-cost of a pay phone call. A dime a dozen "almost worthless" first recorded 1930. Phrase stop on a dime attested by 1954 (a dime being the physically smallest unit of U.S. currency).
双语例句
1. I pressed a dime into his grubby mitt.
我把一个十分硬币塞进他脏兮兮的手里。
来自柯林斯例句
2. A dime is a tenth of a dollar.
一角银币是十分之一美元.
来自《简明英汉词典》
3. A dime is an American coin worth ten cents.
一个dime是一枚价值10美分的硬币.
来自互联网
4. In the squares place a penny, nickel, dime and quarter in that order. The object is to reverse the order of these coins.
在这些方块中按顺序放置1分、5分、10分和25分的硬币各一枚。目标是颠倒这些硬币的顺序。
来自柯林斯例句
5. The gentleman looked him over and fished for a dime.