coin
- Top 3000
Sense 1
- noun
- A2
A small round piece of metal that you use to pay for things, small enough to keep in a pocket.
The vending machine swallowed my coin and gave me nothing.
She dropped a coin into the fountain and made a wish.
We tossed a coin to decide who would go first.
He keeps foreign coins in a glass jar on his desk.
Common collocations: toss a coin · flip a coin · a gold coin · insert a coin · collect coins · a handful of coins
Part of: Bank and money, Shops and shopping
Sense 2 · less common
- verb
- C1
To make up a new word or phrase that other people then begin to use.
Scientists coined the term to describe this strange new material.
Nobody really knows who first coined that popular phrase.
The word was coined about fifty years ago by a journalist.
Common collocations: coin a term · coin a phrase · coin a word · newly coined · be coined by
Part of: Speaking, Writing, Talking to people