Dictionary

simoleon en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /sɪˈmoʊliən/

Etymology

Most likely a late-19th-century blend of simon (“dollar”), from simon (“sixpence coin”) (17th-century British slang, perhaps related to simony?), and Napoleon (“French gold coin worth 20 francs, bearing the image of Napoleon III”). Perhaps from New Orleans. The gaming sense may have been chosen for its similarity to Sim.

Meanings

1. (US, slang) A dollar.
   • 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. 1909, The International Bookbinder - Volume 10, page 240:
   • "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?" 1903 February, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Hygeia at the Solito”, in Everybody’s Magazine, volume VIII, number 2, New York, N.Y.: John Wanamaker, →ISSN, page 174, column 2:
   • That'll cost you five simoleons.
   • 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? 1912, Delta Chi Quarterly, volume 10, page 286:
   • His Veteran's insurance came to ten thousand simoleons, rather more than he could bring on the hoof. 1962, Thomas Berger, Reinhart in Love:
   • 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. 1983, Newsweek, volume 101, page 178:
2. A fake, theoretical, or unofficial unit of currency.
   • 'Into simoleons, please,' I said. This was the currency used for general trade across the Dream Archipelago. It was the accepted currency within the publishing industry. All my book contracts were drawn up using simoleon amounts and rates, and the literary agent invariably sent me payment in that currency. I was used to it, knew instinctively what it was worth. The simoleon was the old standard currency. It had been in use for centuries when most of the main clearing banks were established on theisland of Muriseay 2020, Christopher Priest, The Evidence, Gollancz, page 38:
   • Simoleons is just a new name for those assets. You carry around a smart card and spend it just like cash. Or else you go shopping in the Metaverse and spend the money online, and the goods show up on your doorstep the next morning. 1995 March 1, Neal Stephenson, “The Great Simoleon Caper”, in TIME:
3. (capitalized, sometimes, uncountable) A fake, theoretical, or unofficial unit of currency. ▸ In-game currency of SimCity and The Sims computer game series, or its symbol §.
   • The game franchise demands that its participants to simulate the "rat race," earning Simoleons, remodeling their homes, and buying properties. 2016 February 5, Emma Hazen, “Artist Profile: Jacky Connolly”, in Rhizome:

Forms