Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. 25 cents; also as adj., costing 25 cents.

1850		Barry & Patten Men and Memories of S.F. 132: Two bits for a cup of coffee; two bits for a piece of pie.
c.1895		The Standard Quartette [song title] ‘So, Bo, Give Me Them Two Bits.’.
1897		F.H. Carruth Voyage of the Rattletrap 142: He tossed out a quarter and said, ‘Two bits,’ and a dime and said, ‘Short bit — thank you.’.
1903		A. Adams Log Of A Cowboy 334: A shave was two bits and a drink the same.
1917		R. Lardner Gullible’s Travels 111: It was the best meal I had in dear old Dixie [...] And they charged two bits a plate.
1924		‘Digit’ Confessions of a Twentieth Century Hobo 12: Two, four, or six bits...Twenty-five, fifty, and seventy-five cents.
1931		D. Runyon ‘Blood Pressure’ Runyon on Broadway (1954) 88: A young baseball bat [...] which cost maybe two bits.
1942		N. Algren Never Come Morning (1988) 3: Two-bits shampoo okey?
1957		Kerouac On The Road (1972) 103: I had to panhandle two bits for the bus.
1967		R. Conot Rivers of Blood 185: ‘How’s a man used to workin’ honest and making good money to feel pushin’ a mop for a dollar and two bits an hour?’.
1996		H. Roth From Bondage 340: Jesus, yer a prince! A whole two bits! God bless ye!

2. (US Und.) $25.

1931		Hammett Glass Key 443: Harry Sloss picked up the dice and rattled them in a pale broad hairy hand. ‘Shoot two bits’ He dropped a twenty-dollar bill and a five-dollar bill on the table.
1940		H. Asbury Gangs of Chicago (2002) 340: Hundred-dollar bills were leaves, and twenty-five dollars was scornfully called two bits.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1968		‘Sl. of Watts’ in Current Sl. III:2.