Definition of "contorniate" []

• A bronze medal or medallion with a deep furrow on the contour or edge, supposed to have been struck in the days of Constantine and his successors. (noun)

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• "The term contorniate is applied to a large circular copper coin with a raised rim, used principally in connection with the circensian games."
• "W. have before us a contorniate medallion, of Caracalla, from the collection of Mr.W. S. Bohn, upon which one or other of these instruments figures."
• "Nos. 12 and 13, and p. 11; Suetonius, _Vitae Neronis_, ed. Charles Patin, cap. 41, p. 304, where the contorniate in question, whose musical instrument differs essentially from Bianchini's and Montfaucon's, is figured."