Penny

/ˈpɛni/ · noun

Meaning

(historical) In the United Kingdom and Ireland and many other countries, a unit of currency worth ¹⁄₂₄₀ of a pound sterling or Irish pound before decimalisation, or a copper coin worth this amount. Abbreviation: d..

Definitions by Sense

1. (historical) In the United Kingdom and Ireland and many other countries, a unit of currency worth ¹⁄₂₄₀ of a pound sterling or Irish pound before decimalisation, or a copper coin worth this amount. Abbreviation: d.
2. In the United Kingdom, a unit of currency worth ¹⁄₁₀₀ of a pound sterling, or a copper coin worth this amount. Abbreviation: p.
3. (historical) In Ireland, a coin worth ¹⁄₁₀₀ of an Irish pound before the introduction of the euro. Abbreviation: p.
4. In the US and (formerly) Canada, a one-cent coin, worth ¹⁄₁₀₀ of a dollar. Abbreviation: ¢.
5. In various countries, a small-denomination copper or brass coin.
6. A unit of nail size, said to be either the cost per 100 nails, or the number of nails per penny. Abbreviation: d.
7. Money in general.
8. (slang) To jam a door shut by inserting pennies between the doorframe and the door.

Example Sentences

Thanks to that penny he had just spent so recklessly [on a newspaper] he would pass a happy hour, taken, for once, out of his anxious, despondent, miserable self. It irritated him shrewdly to know that these moments of respite from carking care would not be shared with his poor wife, with careworn, troubled Ellen.

We had not proceeded very far across the south cantilever when we saw a penny lying beside the track, and another a short distance further on. We were to find several more pennies, and some half-pennies, before we reached the north shore. Inspector Bell explained that many passengers try to throw a coin into the Forth, for "good luck," while trains are crossing the bridge.

However he lost out, as other business interests whom he had alienated by his efforts to squeeze every penny of profit from the canal, supported the construction of the railway.

Holy shit! A hundred and eleven pennies! At that point, that dog had more Lincoln in him than Mary Todd.

A Treasury spokesperson said the government made its final order of penny blanks this month, and the United States Mint will continue to manufacture pennies only as long as an inventory of penny blanks exists.

to turn an honest penny

What penny hath Rome borne, / What men provided, what munition sent?

Zach and Ben had only been at college for a week when their door was pennied by the girls down the hall.

Synonyms for penny

Antonyms for penny

Related Words

Word Forms

• pennies
• pence
• pens
• peny
• penie
• pennie
• pennying
• pennied

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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