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Definition of piaster - 4 dictionary results

pi⋅as⋅ter

  [pee-as-ter, -ah-ster]
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–noun
1. a former coin of Turkey, the 100th part of a lira: replaced by the kurus in 1933.
2. a monetary unit of Egypt, Lebanon, Sudan, and Syria, the 100th part of a pound.
3. a former monetary unit of South Vietnam: replaced by the dong in 1976.
4. the former peso or dollar of Spain and Spanish America.
Also, pi⋅as⋅tre.

Origin:
1605–15; < F piastre < It piastra thin sheet of metal, silver coin (short for piastra d'argento, lit., plate of silver), akin to piastro plaster
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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pi·as·ter also pi·as·tre   (pē-ās'tər, -ä'stər)   
n.  
  1. See Table at currency.
  2. Piece of eight.

[French piastre, from Italian piastra, thin metal plate, from Latin emplastrum, medical dressing; see plaster.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Piaster

Pi*as"ter\, n. [F. piastre, It. piastra a thin plate of metal, a dollar, LL. piastra, fr. L. emplastrum. See Plaster.] A silver coin of Spain and various other countries. See Peso. The Spanish piaster (commonly called peso, or peso duro) is of about the value of the American dollar. The Italian piaster, or scudo, was worth from 80 to 100 cents. The Turkish and Egyptian piasters are now worth about four and a half cents.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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piaster 
"Sp. dollar" (1630), also "monetary unit and coin of Turkey" (1611, in Turk., ghurush, originally debased Sp. dollars), from Fr. piastre, from It. piastra "thin metal plate," short for impiastro "plaster," from L. emplastrum, from Gk. emplastron (see plaster).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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