DRACHMA • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Drachma

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noun

Drachma n. (pl. E. drachmas, L. drachmae)

A silver coin among the ancient Greeks, having a different value in different States and at different periods. The average value of the Attic drachma is computed to have been about 19 cents (U. S. currency, ca. 1913).

A gold and silver coin of modern Greece worth 19.3 cents.

Among the ancient Greeks, a weight of about 66.5 grains; among the modern Greeks, a weight equal to a gram.

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Etymology of 'Drachma'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Drachma" Quotes from Famous Books

... drachma (lit. 'what can be grasped in the hand') was the principal silver coin of the ancient Greeks, and while the nominal value of it was about that of the modern drachma (by law of the same value as the French franc) its purchasing power was much greater. Caesar left to each ...

— The New Hudson Shakespeare: Julius Caesar • William Shakespeare

... excellent Meletus, everyone knows that Anaxagoras says so; you can buy that information for a drachma! Do I really appear to you to ...

— The World's Greatest Books—Volume 14—Philosophy and Economics • Various

... life of an industrious merchant, of a Carthaginian, was too precious to be risked, as long as it was possible to substitute advantageously for it that of a barbarian from Spain or Gaul. Carthage knew, and could tell to a drachma, what the life of a man of each nation came to. A Greek was worth more than a Campanian, a Campanian worth more than a Gaul or a Spaniard. When once this tariff of blood was correctly made out, Carthage ...

— The Fifteen Decisive Battles of The World From Marathon to Waterloo • Sir Edward Creasy, M.A.

... oil to be exported, and those that exported any other fruit, the archon was solemnly to curse, or else pay an hundred drachmas (a drachma was about twenty cents.) himself; and this law was written in his first table, and, therefore, let none think it incredible, as some affirm, that the exportation of figs was once unlawful. He made a law also, concerning hurts and injuries from beasts, in which he commands the master of ...

— The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch - Being Parts of The "Lives" of Plutarch • Plutarch

Words linked to "Drachma" : dram, apothecaries' weight, Greek monetary unit, Greek drachma, scruple, drachm, apothecaries' ounce, troy ounce