eagle n.2
1. a $10 coin; thus half-eagle, a $5 coin; double-eagle, a $20 coin.
 | in Amer. Museum (1789) II 182: There shall be two gold coins; one [...] to be stamped with the impression of the American eagle, and to be called an eagle [...] one [...] to be called a half-eagle [DA]. | |
| Annals 2nd Congress 2 Apr. 71: Eagles; each to be of the value of ten dollars or units, and to contain [...] two hundred and seventy grains of standard, gold [DA]. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Georgia Scenes (1848) 160: It contained two half eagles. | |
| Grant Co. Herald (Lancaster, WI) 26 June vol. 5 16: The bombs flew and fell, and hissed and fried [...] as if Old Billy up there [...] had been reigning [sic] half-eagles on’em. | |
| Knickerbocker (N.Y.) xl (Oct.) 323: He was about to contribute a half-eagle to the funds. | |
| in Journal of Discourses IX 19: [It has caused us to] scramble for the picayunes when we might as well have picked up the eagles. | |
| Wanderings of a Vagabond 97: Then he would bid me put ‘tin dollars in ivory’ on his chosen card ‘an’ if I lose them, me boy, sure I’ve the money in me fist to pay yez,’ at the same time displaying a gold eagle in his fingers. [Ibid.] 358: He took with his thumb and finger, from his vest pocket, a half eagle, which he tossed on the table with the utmost ‘sang froid’. | |
| Life of the Mississippi (1914) 349: The bets had been trifling – a dollar or two; but Backus started off with an eagle now. | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Era (London) 7July 16/1: [He] called his Nigger, gave him a half-eagle, and said, ‘Julips all round!’. | |
| Troy Daily Times 31 Jan. n.p.: Albert carried in a sack, tucked in his hip pocket, 890 dols., mostly in double eagles. | |
| Tales of the Ex-Tanks 153: The dealer passed me over ten-dollar chips and $100 in eagles. | |
| Bucky O’Connor (1910) 83: Bucky drew a handful of change from his pocket and selected a gold eagle. | |
| Junior 35: MerwynI hear the double eagles jingling in his vest pocket. | |
| Gangs of N.Y. 213: Listening eagerly to the clink of the double eagles which he kept in great canvas bags. | |
| ‘Rope Meat’ in Wild West Weekly 22 Oct. 🌐 I’ll take [...] the double-eagle he stole from me. | |
| (con. c.1910s) Big Jim Turner 49: I’ll give you five double-eagles for her as she stands. Five twenty-dollar gold pieces. |
2. a silver dollar.
| Clockmaker I 119: He gave the Eagles such a drive with his fist, he burst his pocket, and sent a whole raft of them a spinnin down his legs to the ground. | |
| Mysteries and Miseries of N.Y. I 85: I’ve two eagles left – here they are, loose in my pocket. | |
| Life and Recollections of Yankee Hill 145: Hill’s hand had been fumbling in his pocket, and at last he drew out an eagle, and threw it to the sick man. ‘There, send that to your wife, and if she don’t want to use it, keep it to buy yourself a wooden leg when you get well.’. | |
| Biglow Papers 2nd series (1880) 24: Though yaller boys is thick enough, eagles hez kind o’ flown. |
3. a dollar bill.
| Bottom Dogs 155: Four hundred and fifty greenbacks [...] Four hundred and fifty eagles was no more than a day’s take in. | |
| (con. 1998–2000) You Got Nothing Coming 358: The thought of paper eagles not flying into his wallet as expected must have shocked the Monster. |
In compounds
(US) payday.
| ‘Pacific War Lang.’ in AS XXII:1 Feb. 55: eagle’s day. Pay day (the day on which the eagle screams). | |
| Hy Lit’s Unbelievable Dict. of Hip Words 13: eagle day – Pay day. |
In phrases
(US) of an American, to indulge in ardent, even jingoistic, patriotic speech [the eagle as symbolic of the US].
| Ex-Prodigy 184: [T]he efforts of a few ardent American Anglophiles had the effect of making the American boy brandish the flag and let the eagle shriek. |
1. (orig. US milit./Aus.) payday; cite 1919 also refs to the US declaration of war ; note euph. in cit. 1926.
| Navy Explained 83: To get clothes or eats on credit with a promise to pay ‘when the eagle walks.’. | |
| Two & Three 18 Apr. [synd. col.] When the eagle screamed in 1917 Bill Jazzbo was staked to a junior department in the walking department of Uncle Sam’s overseas circus [...] Bill paddled his dogs down Fifth Avenue between two rows of cheering cuckoos who could not hear the eagle chirp unless it was on a dollar bill. | |
| (con. 1918) Chevrons 238: We may live to see another pay-day. The eagle hasn’t done his bit for me in a long time and I’d like to spend a little money. | |
| Wise-crack Dict. 16/1: When the ghost walks – Referring to days when the Eagle screams. | |
| Headless Lady (1987) 48: I understand the eagle ascreamed hereabouts on Saturday in a big way. And business has been spotty. How did that happen? | |
| You Chirped a Chinful!! n.p.: Eagle Flies: Pay day. | |
| Dict. Service Sl. n.p.: the day the eagle screams [...] pay-day. | |
| ‘Pacific War Lang.’ in AS XXII:1 Feb. 55: eagle’s day. Pay day (the day on which the eagle screams). | |
| , | | DAS 141/1: day the eagle shits, the Pay day. |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | I’m a Jack, All Right 9: Why don’t you back up to the Paymaster for an advance? [...] The Eagle comes round in a couple of days and you must be due for a packet. | |
| ‘Time and cool people’ in Trans-action 4 8/1: Time is high on Friday nights when the ‘eagle flies’ and the gig begins. | |
| Third Ear n.p.: when the eagle flies n. payday. | |
| Ghetto Sketches 202: That’s the way you women are on a man’s payday, too bad the eagle don’t fly every day. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Pallet on the Floor 29: Let’s get a few flagons [...] After all the eagle shits tomorrow. | |
| Campus Sl. Mar. 2: eagle flies – pay day. | |
| About Face (1991) 127: On payday (or ‘the day the eagle shits’) we got paid early. | |
![[Can]](/static/img/flags/can.png "Canada") | (con. 1920s) Legs 196: Tomorrow’s the big day for us, buddy – Friday! The day the eagle shits. | |
| Aus. Word Map 🌐 eagle has landed. Question used in the workforce when paypackets were about to be handed out: Has the eagle landed? |
2. (Aus.) the day one’s pension is cashed.
| Lily on the Dustbin 97: I’d hate to have to wait for ‘the day the eagle shits’ (pension day) so I could afford something tasty to eat. |
SE in slang uses
In compounds
(US) a derog. term for a Jew.
| 315th Infantry 152: Jack Fields, better known as ‘Old Eagle Beak’ and ‘Banana Nose’ [HDAS]. | |
| Tommy Gallagher’s Crusade 19: He works for kikes. Catch me workin’ for one of them eagle-beaks. | |
| in War Paint 152: [aircraft nose art] Eaglebeak. | |
| Dig That Uranium [film script] By the way, eagle-beak, how’d you ever get to be maitre d’ chef of this outfit? [HDAS]. |
(Aus.) the shearing of dead or dying sheep in the bush in times of drought.
| Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.] 70: EAGLE-HAWKING: bush slang in the times of drought – when sheep are dying the practice is for the station hands to go out and either shear the dying sheep or to pluck the wool off the dead carcases. Derivation probably corruption and transference from ‘tomahawk’ to shear sheep badly [...] and wool-hawk, a fast shearer. |
In phrases
(US) to eke out one’s money.
| ‘Cronus Club’ in Life During Wartime 37: That’s the thing about scions of old money [...] They’ve never had to squeeze the eagle until it grins. |