yellow boy

See also: Yellow Boy

English

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Noun

yellow boy (countable and uncountable, plural yellow boys)

  1. (countable, slang, now archaic, historical) A gold coin; a guinea or sovereign. [from 17th c.]
    • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:
      “Damn them, (cried the commodore) I wish both their necks were broke, thof the two cost me forty good yellow-boys.” “Forty guineas! (exclaimed the stranger […] ).”
    • 1789, Harris's List of Covent-Garden Ladies, London: H. Ranger, page 63:
      This enchanting game she has played for two years, and if you are her partner, she expects at least double the number of yellow boys.
  2. (uncountable, slang) Iron(III) hydroxide, a yellow-orange solid found in acidic water from mining projects.
  3. (countable, US, slang, historical) Synonym of goldback (“kind of gold certificate”)
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