bullion
/ˈbʊl.jən/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.18 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A bulk quantity of precious metal, usually gold or silver, assessed by weight and typically cast as ingots.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
Showy metallic ornament, as of gold, silver, or copper, on bridles, saddles, etc.
Countable; Obsolete; Uncountable
noun
A heavy twisted fringe, made of fine gold or silver wire and used for epaulets; also, any heavy twisted fringe whose cords are prominent.
Countable; Obsolete; Uncountable
name
A surname.
Example Sentences
- "If the mint kept back one per cent, to pay the expense of coinage, it would be against the interest of the holders of bullion to have it coined, until the coin was more valuable than the bullion by at least that fraction."
- "And those which eld's strict doom did disallow, / And damn for bullion, go for current now."
- "To beholde how it was garnysshyd and bounde, […] The claspis and bullyons were worth a thousande pounde; […]"
- "The hair was plaited with bullion and red riband, and then wound round the head, something after the fashion of a turban, save that it entirely displayed the forehead."
Etymology
From Middle English bulloin, bullioun, from Anglo-Norman bullion, of obscure origin, perhaps from French bouillon, extending the sense to that of ‘melting’. Middle Dutch boelioen (“base metal”) seems to have come from the unrelated French billon.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: bulloin, bullion