Sēign'ior-age, n.
(seen'yur-, 45), n. [Fr. seigneuriage, O. Fr. seignorage, Pr. senhoratge, Sp. señorage, It. segnoraggio, signoraggio.]
Sense 1. Something claimed or taken by virtue of sovereign prerogative; specifically, a certain toll or deduction on bullion brought to a mint to be coined, designed originally to defray the expenses of coinage, but afterward made a branch of royal revenue. This deduction is still made, with certain modifications of the original system, at governmental mints.
If government, however, throws the expense of coinage, as is reasonable, upon the holders, by making a charge to cover the expense (which is done by giving back rather less in coin than has been received in bullion, and is called “levying a seigniorage”), the coin will rise to the extent of the seigniorage above the value of the bullion. J. S. Mill.
Sense 2. More generally, profit, as the money paid on a copyright by a publisher to an author. [Eng.]