Hypertext Webster Gateway: "seigniorage"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Seigniorage \Seign"ior*age\, n. [F. seigneuriage, OF.
seignorage.]
1. Something claimed or taken by virtue of sovereign
prerogative; specifically, a charge or toll deducted from
bullion brought to a mint to be coined; the difference
between the cost of a mass of bullion and the value as
money of the pieces coined from it.
If government, however, throws the expense of
coinage, as is reasonable, upon the holders, by
making a charge to cover the expense (which is done
by giving back rather less in coin than has been
received in bullion, and is called ``levying a
seigniorage''), the coin will rise to the extent of
the seigniorage above the value of the bullion. --J.
S. Mill.
2. A share of the receipts of a business taken in payment for
the use of a right, as a copyright or a patent.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Brassage \Bras"sage\, n. [F.]
A sum formerly levied to pay the expense of coinage; -- now
called {seigniorage}.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
seigniorage
n : charged by a government for coining bullion
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