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Penny
Definitions
- 1 A diminutive of the female given name Penelope.
- 2 A surname.
"Max Cross cut a fine figure as the Colonel, Percy Penny was a somewhat unducal Duke, while Edgar McHale gave a particularly good rendering of the Major."
- 3 A place name, presumably all taken from the surname:; An unincorporated community in Calloway County, Kentucky, United States.
- 4 A place name, presumably all taken from the surname:; An unincorporated community in Pike County, Kentucky.
- 5 A place name, presumably all taken from the surname:; A small community on the Fraser River in central British Columbia, Canada.
- 1 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. historical
"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."
- 2 a coin worth one-hundredth of the value of the basic unit wordnet
- 3 In the United Kingdom, a unit of currency worth ¹⁄₁₀₀ of a pound sterling, or a copper coin worth this amount. Abbreviation: p.
- 4 a fractional monetary unit of Ireland and the United Kingdom; equal to one hundredth of a pound wordnet
- 5 In Ireland, a coin worth ¹⁄₁₀₀ of an Irish pound before the introduction of the euro. Abbreviation: p. historical
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- 6 In the US and (formerly) Canada, a one-cent coin, worth ¹⁄₁₀₀ of a dollar. Abbreviation: ¢.
"Holy shit! A hundred and eleven pennies! At that point, that dog had more Lincoln in him than Mary Todd."
- 7 In various countries, a small-denomination copper or brass coin.
- 8 A unit of nail size, said to be either the cost per 100 nails, or the number of nails per penny. Abbreviation: d.
- 9 Money in general.
"to turn an honest penny"
- 1 To jam a door shut by inserting pennies between the doorframe and the door. slang
"Zach and Ben had only been at college for a week when their door was pennied by the girls down the hall."
- 2 To circumvent the tripping of an electrical circuit breaker by the dangerous practice of inserting a coin in place of a fuse in a fuse socket.
- 3 During a meal or as part of a drinking game, to drop a penny in a person's drink with the expectation that they finish it (or some such variation thereof); commonly associated with crewdates at Oxford and swaps at Cambridge.
"You got pennied! Down it, fresher."
Etymology
From Middle English peny, from Old English peniġ, penniġ, penning (“penny”), from Proto-West Germanic *panning, from Proto-Germanic *panningaz, of uncertain origin (see that page for theories). Doublet of pfennig and fening.
From Middle English peny, from Old English peniġ, penniġ, penning (“penny”), from Proto-West Germanic *panning, from Proto-Germanic *panningaz, of uncertain origin (see that page for theories). Doublet of pfennig and fening.
From Pen(elope) + -y.
See also for "penny"
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Unscramble this word: penny