double eagle
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˈdʌbəl ˈiɡəl/
- Archaic
:
doble águila
- the 1933 double eagle
Examples
-
- What's a double eagle?
-
Gold double eagles.
-
The collector proudly displayed his rare double eagle from 1863 at the coin show.
-
The museum featured a historical exhibit on the double eagle and its significance in American currency.
-
Many people were surprised to learn that a double eagle could be worth thousands of dollars at auction.
How Valuable
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a $20 gold coin' is transparently built from 'double' (twofold) + 'eagle' (a $10 U.S. gold coin): doubling an eagle coin yields a twenty-dollar coin. Thus a learner who knows both constituent senses can directly infer the MWE meaning (transparency hinges on knowing the specialized coin sense of 'eagle' rather than the bird).
Etymology
Double eagle gets its name from old U.S. coins: an eagle coin was ten dollars, so a double eagle was twice that value. That's why it was the name for the U.S. gold coin worth 'twenty dollars'.