Twopenny
adj, noun, slang ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A coin or stamp worth two pence. British, countable, dated
"When the Gauls attacked Rome, he hit upon the plan of pelting the soldiers with twopennies to make them believe they had plenty to eat."
- 2 Ale sold for two pence per quart. British, obsolete, uncountable
- 3 A person's head. British, countable, obsolete, slang
""It flew all to pieces; and didn't we get it! But look here, Merry, are you on?" "Yes; tuck in your twopenny." "No springing, mind.""
- 1 Having a value or cost of twopence. not-comparable
- 2 Cheap; worthless; petty. not-comparable
"A pretty degree of knighthood, sir, is that which can be bought with sugar-hogs-heads! and then your twopenny marquisates"
- 1 of trifling worth wordnet
Example
More examples"A pretty degree of knighthood, sir, is that which can be bought with sugar-hogs-heads! and then your twopenny marquisates"
Etymology
* From two + penny. * (head): George Orwell explains this in Down and Out in Paris and London as rhyming slang: head > loaf of bread > twopenny loaf > twopenny.
Related phrases
More for "twopenny"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.