dime

Pluraldimes

Formsdimes, diming, dimed

1. 1
   nounCanadaUScountable

   A United States coin worth one-tenth of a dollar, equal to ten cents.

   He dropped a dime into the parking meter and walked off.

   The cashier handed back three dimes in change.

   Note

   The coin carries its arithmetic in its name. Middle English dime came through Anglo-Norman disme, "one tenth, tithe," which is also the ancestor of modern French dîme. That word goes back to Latin decima (pars), "tenth part." French kept the tithe. In US and Canadian English the word settled on the coin, and that built-in "ten" runs underneath much of its later slang.

2. 2
   nounCanadaUScountable

   A small or trivial sum of money, often mentioned to stress how little something costs.

   She built the whole business without borrowing a dime.

   The warranty means you won't pay a dime for parts.

   Similarpenny, cent

   Note

   A figure of speech built on the coin's small value, and its natural home is the negative statement: didn't spend a dime, won't pay a dime, without borrowing a dime. Read it as an emphatic way of saying "nothing at all." Like the coin itself, it belongs to US and Canadian English.

3. 3
   nounslangcountable

   A quantity of an illegal drug, usually marijuana, sold in a ten-dollar bag.

   She picked up a dime on the way to the party.

   Back then a dime got you a lot more than it does now.

   Note

   The street drug trade named this unit by its price, not its weight. A dime is whatever ten dollars buys, so the actual quantity varies from market to market. The fuller form is dime bag, and marijuana is the usual contents. The word is firmly tied to illegal sales, so outside that world it reads as a deliberate borrowing.

4. 4
   nounslangUScountable

   A woman regarded as extremely attractive: a perfect ten on a ten-point scale.

   She walked in looking like an absolute dime.

   The guys called her a dime the moment she sat down.

   Similarknockout, stunner, beauty, bombshell

   Note

   The word grades looks on a ten-point scale, so a dime is a perfect ten. The fuller form is dime piece. Hip-hop lyrics use it freely, from "Stay Fly" (2005) to Cadence Weapon's "House Music" (2008). Because it reduces a woman to a number, it can come across as objectifying. Use it knowing that tone travels with it.

5. 5
   nounslangcountable

   A sum of ten dollars.

   He slipped the bouncer a dime to skip the line.

   That used jacket set me back a dime at the thrift store.

   Similartenner, sawbuck

6. 6
   nounslangcountable

   A prison sentence lasting ten years.

   She was looking at a dime if the jury convicted her.

   After serving a dime, he walked out a changed man.

   Note

   Prison talk turns the coin's ten into years. The word pairs with verbs like get, do, serve or face. David Bowman used it in The New York Times in 2007: "These deaths got him a dime in a minimum-security prison." Journalism can borrow it for color, but formal and legal writing states the sentence plainly in years.

7. 7
   nounPhilippinesUScountable

   In basketball, a pass that leads directly to a teammate's basket; an assist.

   The point guard dropped a dime to the cutter under the basket.

   That no-look dime set up the game-winning layup.

   Similarassist

   Note

   Basketball borrows the coin's name for one of its most admired plays, and the usage belongs to the US and the Philippines. The usual verb is drop: a guard drops a dime to a cutter, or throws a no-look dime. Keep it apart from the long, precise throw, which is praised for the catch at the end, and from the informer's verb, whose payphone dime has nothing to do with passing.

8. 8
   nouncountable

   In American football, a defensive formation using six defensive backs, one of them a dimeback.

   The defense lined up in a dime to cover four wide receivers.

   On obvious passing downs, they relied on the dime.

   Note

   American football names its extra-defensive-back packages after coins. Five defensive backs make a nickel, six make a dime, and the sixth player is the dimeback. Coaches call the dime on obvious passing downs. It gives up some strength against the run in exchange for extra coverage against spread-out receivers.

9. 9
   nounslangcountable

   A sum of one thousand dollars.

   She spent a dime on a new laptop and accessories.

   The bookie owed him a dime after the playoffs.

   Similargrand

   Note

   Here the coin's ten is multiplied rather than borrowed: a dime is a thousand dollars, the same as a grand. Because the ten-dollar slang meaning uses the identical word, context has to do the work. Ted McClelland's Horseplayers (2007) spells it out: "he dropped a dime—$1,000." Gambling talk favors this sense. If a listener might hear ten dollars, say grand instead.

10. 10
    nounslang

    Responsibility for paying a cost; whose money covers an expense.

    He flew first class on the firm's dime.

    Lunch is on my dime today, so order whatever you like.

    Similarexpense, tab

    Note

    This sense lives almost entirely in one frame: on someone's dime. In phrases like traveling on the company's dime or lunch on my dime, the possessive names whoever is paying. The phrase often hints that the payer and the person enjoying the spending are not the same. Outside that prepositional pattern, the word rarely carries this meaning at all.

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