touch piece

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English

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Alternative forms

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Noun

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touch piece (plural touch pieces)

  1. (historical) A coin or medallion given to someone in Britain after they had been touched by the sovereign as a cure for the king's evil.
    • 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 187:
      At home there was still a brisk traffic in the touch-pieces given to the sufferer at the royal ceremony, and subsequently worn round the neck as a souvenir or a protective amulet.