two dollar bill
2
2.9
- noun
- /tu ˈdɑːlər bɪl/
- US
:
billete de dos dólares
- It might be the crumpled two-dollar bills.
- gave me a two dollar bill
Examples
-
I give you two dollar bills, you give me a cup of coffee and nineteen dimes for the telephone?
-
You have to look carefully at these Yankee two-dollar bills.
-
$288 cash with a two-dollar bill for good luck.
-
Libby handed her two dollar bills, and the woman reached into a red coffee can to retrieve the change.
Fiction book (1996) -
I rarely got any two-dollar bills anymore but substituted two ones of my own when I did.
Fiction book (1995) -
"My grandma sent me a birthday card with a two-dollar bill inside," said Libby Belcher, the dumbest girl in the class, who went on to get a doctorate in education and then became superintendent of the school district.
Fiction book (2001) -
A two-dollar bill from Jamaica features an engraving depicting children of different races who are clustered together with arms draped over one another's shoulders.
Academic text (1991) -
I sent out a tweet the other day that mentioned the two-dollar bill, and that spawned an automated reply from what appears to be the official Twitter feed of the two-dollar bill (@the2dollarbill).
Blog text (10) -
I know the newsboy would rather have two dollar bills than a $1.95 flashlight wrapped in green paper and silver ribbon with "MERVYN" spelled out in red Scotch tape.
Fiction book (1993) -
Richard reached into his pocket and pulled out two dollar bills.
Synonyms
1
9.6
Two-dollar bills from the United States
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and compositionally derived from 'two' (quantity) + 'dollar' (currency unit) + 'bill' (paper money), so a learner who knows the constituents will understand it denotes a paper note worth two dollars. This numeric + currency + object compounding is a common and cross-linguistically familiar pattern in English, making the expression immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Two dollar bill is the American paper bill that says two and is worth 'two dollars'. Because it is not seen often in shops, people treat it as unusual or keep it, so getting one can surprise someone and collectors like them.