Ninepence

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A former British silver coin, worth nine old pennies. British, obsolete

    "His wits were sent him for a token, \ But in the carriage crack'd and broken. \ Like commendation nine-pence, crookt \ With—to and from my love—it lookt."

  2. 2
    a coin worth nine pennies wordnet
  3. 3
    Nine old pennies. British, obsolete

    "I had sold it to her that morning for ninepence; the real price was a shilling, but it was somewhat shopworn."

  4. 4
    A Spanish real, valued at twelve and a half cents. New-England, obsolete

Example

More examples

"His wits were sent him for a token, \ But in the carriage crack'd and broken. \ Like commendation nine-pence, crookt \ With—to and from my love—it lookt."

Etymology

From nine + pence.

Related phrases

commendation ninepenceneat as ninepencenice as ninepenceright as ninepenceold penny

More for "ninepence"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.