shroff

American  

[shrof] / ʃrɒf /

noun

1. (in India) a banker or moneychanger.

2. (in East Asia, especially China) a local expert employed to test the purity of a coin’s metal content, especially silver or gold.

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verb (used with object)

1. to test (coins) to ascertain the purity of the metal content, especially silver or gold.

shroff British  

/ ʃrɒf /

noun

1. (in China, Japan, etc, esp formerly) an expert employed to separate counterfeit money or base coin from the genuine

2. (in India) a moneychanger or banker

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verb

1. (tr) to test (money) and separate out the counterfeit and base

Etymology

Origin of shroff

First recorded in 1610–20; earlier sharoffe from Portuguese xarrafo, probably from Gujarati śaraf, from Arabic ṣayrāfī “moneychanger”

Example Sentences

And whenever Hersey needs an idea and can't find one�it happens all the time�he uses a big word instead: cangue, coffle, fulvous, hame, jingal, liripipe, m�tayer, panyar, purlin, psora, shroff, sycee.*

From Time Magazine Archive

Gadsby never had dealings with a shroff in his life.

From The Works of Rudyard Kipling One Volume Edition by Kipling, Rudyard

The shroff will come to ask about his title-deed.

From Guns of the Gods by Mundy, Talbot

The exportation of unmanufactured brass, of what is called gun-metal, bell-metal, and shroff metal, still continues to be prohibited.

From An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Smith, Adam

Gandy never had dealings with a shroff in his life.

From The Story of the Gadsbys by Kipling, Rudyard