simoleon

See also: Simoleon

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Most likely a late-19th-century blend of simon (“dollar”), from simon (“sixpence coin”) (17th-century British slang, perhaps related to simony?), and Napoleon (“French gold coin worth 20 francs, bearing the image of Napoleon III”). Perhaps from New Orleans.

The gaming sense may have been chosen for its similarity to Sim.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sɪˈmoʊliən/

Noun

simoleon (plural simoleons)

(US, slang) A dollar.
That'll cost you five simoleons.
- 1903 February, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Hygeia at the Solito”, in Everybody’s Magazine, volume VIII, number 2, New York, N.Y.: John Wanamaker, →ISSN, page 174, column 2:
  "T'ought I was lyin' about the money, did ye? Well, you can frisk me if you wanter. Dat's the last simoleon in the treasury. Who's goin' to pay?"
- 1909, The International Bookbinder - Volume 10, page 240:
  Another brother working in an Alabama city has not sent a cold simolean or any long green since January; he has ignored several letters, but at last a registered letter found him O.K. and working.
- 1912, Delta Chi Quarterly, volume 10, page 286:
  We gladly did so with the result that we got a menu worth a dollar and a half or two dollars for a single simolean. Can you beat that?
- 1962, Thomas Berger, Reinhart in Love:
  His Veteran's insurance came to ten thousand simoleons, rather more than he could bring on the hoof.
- 1983, Newsweek, volume 101, page 178:
  Abetted by market-wise agents and paperback publishers with an eye for the speedy simolean, these double-gaited gonzos are perpetrating a plague of best-selling takeoffs of innocent newspapers, defenseless magazines, helpless self-help books - even the Good Book itself.
A fake, theoretical, or unofficial unit of currency.
- 1995 March 1, Neal Stephenson, “The Great Simoleon Caper”, in TIME‎^[1]:
  Simoleons is just a new name for those assets. You carry around a smart card and spend it just like cash. Or else you go shopping in the Metaverse and spend the money online, and the goods show up on your doorstep the next morning.
- 2020, Christopher Priest, The Evidence‎^[2], Gollancz, page 38:
  'Into simoleons, please,' I said. This was the currency used for general trade across the Dream Archipelago. It was the accepted currency within the publishing industry. All my book contracts were drawn up using simoleon amounts and rates, and the literary agent invariably sent me payment in that currency. I was used to it, knew instinctively what it was worth. The simoleon was the old standard currency. It had been in use for centuries when most of the main clearing banks were established on theisland of Muriseay
1. (gaming; sometimes uncountable or capitalized) In-game currency of The Sims computer game series, or its symbol.
  - 2016 February 5, Emma Hazen, “Artist Profile: Jacky Connolly”, in Rhizome‎^[3]:
    The game franchise demands that its participants to simulate the "rat race," earning Simoleons, remodeling their homes, and buying properties.

Anagrams

semolino