Forms: 4–7 coyne, 6–7 coine, 7 coyn, 7– coin. Also 4–6 coygne, coigne, 6 Sc. coignie; 6 qwyne, 6–7 quoyne, 7 quine. See also the Sc. form CUNYE. [a. OF. coignier, cungner to ‘strike’ or stamp money, to mint, to coin (still in Cotgr.), f. coin stamp, die, COIN. In English, with the changed sense of the sb., the notion, when analysed, became ‘to make coin, make into coin.’]
1. trans. To make (money) by stamping metal.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 239. Þe kynge’s side salle be þe hede & his name writen; Þe croyce side what cite it was in coyned & smyten.
1393. Gower, Conf., II. 83. To coigne the money Of sondry metal.
1436. Pol. Poems (1859), II. 198. Nobles coigned of recorde.
1494. Fabyan, Chron., an. 1280 (R.). The kynge caused, in siluer, the halfepeny to be coygned … farthingis of syluer were also coygned.
1577. Harrison, England, II. xxv. (1877), I. 364. King Edward the first did first coine the penie and smallest peeces of siluer roundwise, which before were square.
1673. Ray, Journ. Low C., 434. All the Cantons of Switzerland coyn money except Appenzel, [etc.].
1857. Buckle, Civiliz., I. ix. 564. The right of coining money … was never allowed in England, even to the greatest nobles.
b. transf. and fig.
1593. Drayton, Eclogues, iv. 88. This framed the Mint, that coynd our miserie.
1692. Bentley, Confut. Atheism, III. 25 (J.). Can we be sure, that this Medal was really coined by an Artificer.
c. fig. To coin money (mod. colloq.): to gain or ‘make’ money rapidly and with ease.
1863. Fr. A. Kemble, Resid. in Georgia, 105. For the last four years … I literally coined money.
2. To make (metal) into money by stamping pieces of definite weight and value with authorized marks or characters; to convert into coin.
c. 1400. [see COINED].
a. 1483. Pol. Poems (1859), II. 286. That alle the sylver … Thether schold be broȝtthe and yconyd there.
1599. Thynne, Animadv. (1865), 45. Esterlinges, whiche refyned and coyned the silver.
1683. Col. Rec. Penn., I. 84. He recd any Silver of Charles Pickering to Quine for him.
1866. Crump, Banking, x. 226. Tin was coined by Charles II., 1684; gun metal and pewter by his successor, James.
b. intr. (for refl.) To undergo coinage.
a. 1700. Dryden, Epick Poetry. Metal … so soft that it will not coin without alloy to harden it.
c. fig. To turn into money, make money out of or by means of.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., III. iii. 90. Poore? Looke vpon his Face: What call you Rich? Let them coyne his Nose, let them coyne his Cheekes.
1843. trans. Custine’s Empire of Czar, I. 180. The man who is not free is coined; he is equivalent … to ten roubles a year to his proprietor.
1850. W. Irving, Goldsmith, xxi. 229. He coined the brains of his authors in the times of their exigency.
3. transf. To stamp officially (tin blocks of standard weight).
[1577. (see COINAGE 4).]
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, III. 1007. The law requires them [tin-blocks] to be stamped or coined by public officers, before being exposed for sale.
† 4. To stamp, to figure in or on a coin. Obs.
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., II. iv. 45. [They] that do coyne heauens Image In stamps that are forbid.
1630. Donne, Serm., Job xvi. 17–19 (1640), 130. That Emperour [Constantine] … was coyned Praying.
5. fig. (from 1.) To make, devise, produce.
1580. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 356. This Letter beeing coyned, hee studyed how hee myght conueie it.
1607. Shaks., Cor., III. i. 78. So shall my Lungs Coine words till their decay.
a. 1680. Butler, Rem. (1759), I. 86. And, how good Verse is coin’d, dost understand.
c. 1800. K. White, Lett. (1837), 203. I myself have, however, coined time.
b. esp. in a bad or depreciatory sense: To fabricate, invent, make up (something specious, pretentious or counterfeit).
1561. T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., IV. xviii. (1634), 705. These fellowes unseasonably coyne a mystery.
1579. Tomson, Calvin’s Serm. Tim., 311/2. Giue them selues leaue, to quoyne newe articles of faith.
1589–97. Greene, Ciceronis Amor, Poems (1861), 312. With that she coin’d a smile.
1695. trans. Colbatch’s New Lt. Chirurg. put out, p. vi. Whatever excuse he is able to coin.
1780. [Sir H. Croft], Abbey of Kilkhampton (1786), 83. Slander often coins the Lie.
1837. Disraeli, Venetia, I. xii. He would coin a smile for the instant.
1862. Ruskin, Munera P. (1880), 85. To coin idle imaginations of the mysteries of eternity.
c. spec. To frame or invent (a new word or phrase); usually implying deliberate purpose; and occasionally used depreciatively, as if the process were analogous to that of the counterfeiter.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, III. xxii. (Arb.), 259. Young schollers not halfe well studied … when they come to their friends … will seeme to coigne fine wordes out of the Latin.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., I. iv. § 2. Taking liberty to coin and frame new terms of art … to avoid circuit of speech.
1666. Dryden, Pref. Ann. Mirab. (Globe), 41. If a Roman poet might have liberty to coin a word.
1750. Harris, Hermes, Wks. (1841), 195. There is … no method to express new ideas, but either this of metaphor, or that of coining new words.
1779–81. Johnson, L. P., Watts. He is particularly unhappy in coining names expressive of characters.
1856. Max Müller, Chips (1880), II. xvi. 22. The name of father was coined at that early period.
1876. Freeman, Norm. Conq., V. xxv. 555. No new words are coined in French from a Teutonic mould.
6. fig. (from 2.) To form, fashion or convert into (as metal is made into coin).
1627. P. Fletcher, Locusts, II. xxxvii. Shall these mortals … Coyne into thousand arts their fruitfull braine.
1835. Lytton, Rienzi, I. viii. I have coined my whole soul into one master passion.
1841–4. Emerson, Ess. Love, Wks. (Bohn), I. 74. The air was coined into song.
b. with notion of fashioning into something valuable, or specious.
a. 1720. Sheffield (Dk. Buckhm.), Wks. (1753), I. 16. Mere common counters of the sense … A lover’s fancy coins into a treasure.
1816. Byron, Ch. Har., III. cxiii. I have not … coin’d my cheek to smiles.
† 7. absol. To feign, dissemble. Obs. rare.
1607. Tourneur, Rev. Trag., I. i. Vind. Here comes our Mother. Hip. And sister. Vind. We must quoyne.
