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Penny   /pˈɛni/   Listen
noun
Penny  n.  (pl. pennies or pence. pennies denotes the number of coins; pence the amount of pennies in value)  
1.
A former English coin, originally of copper, then of bronze, the twelfth part of an English shilling in account value, and equal to four farthings, or about two cents; usually indicated by the abbreviation d. (the initial of denarius). Note: "The chief Anglo-Saxon coin, and for a long period the only one, corresponded to the denarius of the Continent... (and was) called penny, denarius, or denier." The ancient silver penny was worth about three pence sterling (see Pennyweight). The old Scotch penny was only one twelfth the value of the English coin. In the United States the word penny is popularly used for cent.
2.
Any small sum or coin; a groat; a stiver.
3.
Money, in general; as, to turn an honest penny. "What penny hath Rome borne, What men provided, what munition sent?"
4.
(Script.) See Denarius.
Penny cress (Bot.), an annual herb of the Mustard family, having round, flat pods like silver pennies (Thlaspi arvense). Also spelled pennycress.
Penny dog (Zool.), a kind of shark found on the South coast of Britain: the tope.
Penny pincher, Penny father, a penurious person; a miser; a niggard. The latter phrase is now obsolete.
Penny grass (Bot.), pennyroyal. (R.)
Penny post, a post carrying a letter for a penny; also, a mail carrier.
Penny wise, wise or prudent only in small matters; saving small sums while losing larger; penny-wise; used chiefly in the phrase, penny wise and pound foolish.



adjective
Penny  adj.  Denoting the weight in pounds for one thousand; used in combination, with respect to nails; as, tenpenny nails, nails of which one thousand weight ten pounds.



Penny  adj.  Worth or costing one penny; as, penny candy.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Penny" Quotes from Famous Books



... not speak to the Point of Cash it self, till I see how you approve of these my Maxims in general: But, I think, a Speculation upon Many a Little makes a Mickle, A Penny sav'd is a Penny got, Penny wise and Pound foolish, It is Need that makes the old Wife trot, would be very useful to the World, and if you treated them with Knowledge would be useful to your self, for it would make Demands for your Paper among those who have no Notion ...
— The Spectator, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 - With Translations and Index for the Series • Joseph Addison and Richard Steele

... nodding-from-a-motor-acquaintance with it but I like a real handshake-friendship with it. I just wished David were here to-day! He'd have taken my hand and run me to the top of the hill and picked a branch of scarlet maple to carry with my goldenrod and asters. Well, I can't have the penny and the cake. I want to be in the city, of course that's the thing I most desire at present—I really am having a ...
— Patchwork - A Story of 'The Plain People' • Anna Balmer Myers

... funds, he returned the checks to the friends who had sent them. One five-thousand-dollar check from a friend named Arnot, in Elmira, went back by the next mail. He was willing to sacrifice his own last penny, but he could not take money from those who were blindly backing his judgment only and not their own. He still had faith in Jones, faith which lasted up to the 13th of February, 1891. Then came a final letter, in which Jones said that he had canvassed the situation thoroughly ...
— Mark Twain, A Biography, 1835-1910, Complete - The Personal And Literary Life Of Samuel Langhorne Clemens • Albert Bigelow Paine

... the poor baker-woman, "we all did our best then for there was ne'er a town in all England like Sidmouth for rejoicing. Why, I baked a hundred and ten penny loaves for the poor, and so did every baker in town, and there's three, and the gentry subscribed for it. And the gentry roasted a bullock and cut it all up, and we all eat it, in the midst of the rejoicing. And then we had such a ...
— The Diary and Letters of Madam D'Arblay Volume 2 • Madame D'Arblay

... resentment of laboring men found expression in riotous meetings at Manchester, Littleport and Nottingham. The movement spread to London. A great labor meeting was held there on the Spa fields. The favorite newspaper of the workingmen, Cobbett's radical "Two Penny Register," rivalled the London "Times" in power. In Parliament the leaders of the radical opposition grew ever more importunate. Not until the end of the year did matters mend. The most comforting sign of better times was a partial resumption of specie ...
— A History of the Nineteenth Century, Year by Year - Volume Two (of Three) • Edwin Emerson


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