noun

• 1

  (also gn.)

  British The sum of £1.05 (21 shillings in pre-decimal currency), now used mainly for determining professional fees and auction prices.

  ‘There were farthings, pennies, oxfords, crowns, florins, shillings, guineas, and pounds, among other divisions.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Robert Carrier's Great Dishes of the World, which has sold two million copies since the original lavish version was launched in 1963, selling at the then unbelievable price of four guineas (equivalent to about £65 now).’
  • ‘Such animals commanded huge prices (1,000 guineas was paid for a Beef Shorthorn bull at a time when a labourer's wage was less than £1 a week) and specimens were exported all over the world.’
  • ‘Twenty bulls were bought by local breeders, with the top price of 10,000 guineas paid by Terry Coghill of Muce Farm, Birsay for a 21-month-old Limousin.’
  • ‘McCain was the trainer of ‘Rummy’, Britain's most famous horse, whom he bought for what proved to be a bargain price of 6,000 guineas in 1972.’
  • ‘Bandit sold for 2,300 guineas and the average price throughout the sale was £1,000 per animal.’
  • ‘Scott, an avid collector of books and other rare artefacts, bought the book for 10 guineas at auction.’
  • ‘Tenor Ronan Tynan paid what is believed to be a record Irish price of 15,200 guineas for a foal on Saturday last on the final day of a four-day sale of brood mares, foals and yearlings at Donohoe's Horse Sales Complex, Goresbridge.’
  • ‘According to Hughes, Olsen became an addition to the stable when Komon sold one of his works for the previously unheard-of price of 1000 guineas.’
  • ‘The design was still available from Morris and Company in 1912, priced at ninety-eight guineas, making it one of the most expensive cabinets offered by the firm.’
  • ‘The winning bid for Takwin, which was 220,000 guineas in English currency, is the second highest amount paid for a horse at the Tattersalls horses in training sale.’
  • ‘Tattersalls officials reported the final hammer price of 360,000 English guineas as a record for a yearling at the December sales.’
  • ‘An auction sale in Perth last week was the largest in modern times of the tough native breed, and drew record prices, with a three-year-old heifer going for 1,400 guineas.’
  • ‘A masterpiece which was owned by a Blackburn family for 150 years after being bought for 180 guineas is set to be auctioned for up to £1.2million.’
  • ‘In the ram section, there was demand for quality stock, with the top price of the day going to Carl Fawcett of 310 guineas for an excellent Texel shearling.’
  • ‘The Elliotts' highest price in the sale ring was 1,280 guineas for a tup lamb at the breed show and sale at Skipton in 1997.’
  • ‘After an initial bid of 300,000 guineas, the price rose rapidly to 800,000 guineas.’
  • ‘To the auctioneer's surprise the bids rise to 25 guineas, at which inflated level Dobbin secures the instrument.’
  • ‘The previous European record for gross receipts at a yearling auction was 36,545,600 guineas reached at the 1984 Tattersalls Houghton auction.’
  • ‘I bought Bandari at Goffs in Ireland for 44,000 guineas, while Fight Your Corner was 15,500 guineas as a yearling.’

  1. 1.1 historical A former British gold coin that was first minted in 1663 from gold imported from West Africa, with a value that was later fixed at 21 shillings. It was replaced by the sovereign from 1817.
     ‘My senses were all confused as within my sight was a king's ransom - Spanish gold doubloons and shining silver reals, gold pieces of eight, old English milled gold guineas, crowns, minted silver shillings.’
     More example sentences

     • ‘However, there were also crowns, farthings, guineas and sovereigns, all in varying amounts and none really compatible with any of the others.’
     • ‘At this time and especially on the sea, two gold guineas would be very hard to find.’
     • ‘When once attending a Christening, he discovered that it was customary to make a gift to the nurse, so reportedly stuck his hand in his pocket, pulled out a handful of gold guineas, and gave them to her without a second thought.’
     • ‘As late as 1742 gilding shillings to pass as guineas was made treason.’
• 2US dated, offensive An immigrant from Italy or elsewhere in southern Europe.

proper noun

• A country on the west coast of Africa; population 12,600,000 (estimated 2015); languages, French (official), Fulani, Susu, Malinke, and others; capital, Conakry.

Part of a feudal Fulani empire from the 16th century, Guinea was colonized by France, becoming part of French West Africa. It became an independent republic in 1958