DCHP-1 Online
three-dollar bill 
1 Obs. a provincial bank-note worth three dollars.
- 1813 . . . the above sum [shall] be struck off in the following manner, viz. The sum of twelve hundred & fifty pounds in three Dollar Bills, two hundred and fifty pounds in Dollar bills, and two hundred and fifty pounds in half Dollar Bills.
2 Figurative use (in expressions indicating that something is non-existent, scarce, or spurious).
- 1953 Then there is the abolition of radio license fees; but radio licenses are as scarce as $3 bills in the Territories!
- 1967 "[The] remark [made] recently by Ralph Cowan, 'a phony three dollar bill,' in connection with this being a bilingual country . . . is true."
- 1813 . . . the above sum [shall] be struck off in the following manner, viz. The sum of twelve hundred & fifty pounds in three Dollar Bills, two hundred and fifty pounds in Dollar bills, and two hundred and fifty pounds in half Dollar Bills.