simoleon

• simolean

Most commonly accepted theory: late 19th century macaronic blend of simon (“dollar”), from simon (“sixpence coin”) (17th-century British slang), and Napoleon (“French gold coin worth 20 francs, bearing the image of Napoleon III”). Perhaps from New Orleans. Also see simony.

simoleon (plural simoleons)

1. (US, slang) One dollar.

   That'll cost you five simoleons.

   • about 1900, O. Henry, Hygeia at the Solito

     "T'ought I was lyin' about the money, did ye? Well, you can frisk me if you wanter. Dat's the last simoleon in the treasury. Who's goin' to pay?"

   • 1909, The International Bookbinder - Volume 10, page 240:

     Another brother working in an Alabama city has not sent a cold simolean or any long green since January; he has ignored several letters, but at last a registered letter found him O.K. and working.

   • 1912, Delta Chi Quarterly - Volume 10, page 286:

     We gladly did so with the result that we got a menu worth a dollar and a half or two dollars for a single simolean. Can you beat that?

   • 1983, Newsweek - Volume 101, page 178:

     Abetted by market-wise agents and paperback publishers with an eye for the speedy simolean, these double-gaited gonzos are perpetrating a plague of best-selling takeoffs of innocent newspapers, defenseless magazines, helpless self-help books - even the Good Book itself.

• semolino