Definition of "demurrage" []

• Detention of a ship, freight car, or other cargo conveyance during loading or unloading beyond the scheduled time of departure. (noun)
• Compensation paid for such detention. (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.

• "To discourage people from hoarding it, they should impose a fee (called demurrage), which had the same effect as negative interest."
• "In addition to all this, the company providing its carriages or waggons is entitled to "demurrage" for every day beyond a certain time that these are detained by the companies to which they do not belong."
• "There are a number of such regional currency schemes in place, quite many of them being based on ideas of the Austrian Silvio Gesell; a key one being that of "demurrage:" holding on to money rather than getting it back into circulation fast is punished in some form."