Yankee dime
- noun
- /ˈjæŋki daɪm/
- Informal
:
moneda Yankee
- After finishing the project, I received a Yankee dime as a token of appreciation from my friend.
Examples
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A Yankee dime doesn’t pay the bills, but it can lift your spirits.
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He offered nothing but a Yankee dime for all my trouble.
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After hours of help, all she gave me was a Yankee dime.
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He offered me a Yankee dime for my help.
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Don't expect much for that; it’s just a Yankee dime.
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He joked that his assistance would only earn him a Yankee dime for all the effort he put in.
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While I waited for my payment, he handed me a Yankee dime and smiled, knowing it wasn't enough.
Synonyms
513
1.0
A small coin worth one of 100 parts of a pound or dollar
14
1.0
Small coins or money you do not need and carry with you
8
2.5
A small amount of money, usually coins, kept for minor expenses
5
9.9
A British coin from the past worth a quarter of a penny, also meaning a very small amount
2
8.1
A very small, unimportant amount
A very small amount of something you can buy for half a penny
How Much
Surface Forms
Morphology
The constituent 'dime' transparently signals a very small coin/value, so a learner could plausibly infer a notion of a small amount or token. However, the combined idiomatic use 'Yankee dime' (a token favor or trivial payment) and any cultural nuance of 'Yankee' is not fully predictable from the parts, making the phrase partially but not wholly transparent to learners.
Etymology
Yankee dime may come from the picture of an American dime, a ten-cent coin given as a tiny or token payment. Because a dime is almost nothing, a Yankee dime came to mean 'a very small amount of money' or 'a minor favor'.