The word "coins" was used as follows in an e-mail. Â I looked up the word in a
dictionary and at about definition #10, I determined it meant "playing
one-upmanship." or "doing one better". Can you explain the derivation and/or use
of the word in this manner?
"It seems that the "XX" Conference now coins the "YY" Conference in being named
in a sex abuse scandal."
John Barham
jbconsults said:
The word "coins" was used as follows in an e-mail. Â I looked up the word in a
dictionary and at about definition #10, I determined it meant "playing
one-upmanship." or "doing one better". Can you explain the derivation and/or use
of the word in this manner?"It seems that the "XX" Conference now coins the "YY" Conference in being named
in a sex abuse scandal."John Barham
John,
Could it be a typo and should be "joins"?
BTW, my grandmother was Lottie Barham and great-great-grandmother was Lavinna Barham. Lavinna was the grandmother of Lottie's husband.
Emmett
I like Emmett's explanation of this usage, but I still have to figure out how "coins" could take on the sense of one-upmanship. Â The only thing that occurs to me is that the older sense of "coiner" is what we would now call a counterfeiter; maybe that's where sense #10 came from.