gold point

English

Pronunciation

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Noun

gold point (plural gold points)

1. (historical finance) The values above and below the mint par of two monetary units on a shared metallic standard at which it became equally cheap to import or export gold or silver bullion instead of resolving trades through credit instruments such as bills of exchange.
   • 1882 December 2, Peel City Guardian:

     The New York exchange has kept hovering at only a little above the gold point.

   • 1925, Samuel Evelyn Thomas, chapter XXIX, in Elements of Economics, page 461:

     We find that the rates at which one currency will exchange for another fluctuate between two limits on each side of the Mint Par, marking the points at which it becomes more profitable to send or to receive gold rather than to send or receive a credit instrument. These theoretical limits are known as the gold points.

2. (physical chemistry) 1036°C, the melting point of gold.

Synonyms

• specie point

Hyponyms

• gold export point, gold import point

References

• "gold point, n.", in the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• "gold point" in the Random House Dictionary (2017).