Definition of "bimetallism" [bi•met•al•lism]

• The use of a monetary standard consisting of two metals, especially gold and silver, in a fixed ratio of value. (noun)
• The doctrine advocating bimetallism. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "When the Fed was founded in 1913, the U.S. was on the gold standard, so controlling the value of money wasn't within its brief; arguments over inflation vs. deflation focused on so-called bimetallism, or the dilution of the gold standard with silver, which Congress determined."
• "There was a reason why William Jennings Bryan rallied millions behind his presidential campaign in 1896 when he campaigned against what he saw as the Republican plutocrats with his slogan that “you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold” Although technically a speech for bimetallism, the slogan reverberated though the west, the laboring class, and poor farmers."
• "Money: Natural law of money, international bimetallism, "free silver," currency; the silver question and hard times by John Joseph Valentine"