halfpenny
a bronze coin of the United Kingdom, equal to half a penny: use phased out in 1984.
the sum of half a penny.
of the price or value of a halfpenny.
of little value; worthless: a halfpenny matter.
British Informal. (of newspapers) sensational, especially morbidly or offensively so.
Origin of halfpenny
1Words Nearby halfpenny
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use halfpenny in a sentence
The price of tobacco accordingly dropped from fourpence a pound to a halfpenny per pound by 1667.
Hallowed Heritage: The Life of Virginia | Dorothy M. TorpeyNothing further transpired, however, and the readers of the halfpenny press for once were deprived of their sensation.
The Double Four | E. Phillips OppenheimWhen I was a boy, such a thing was out of the question, as to each paper a fourpenny-halfpenny stamp was attached.
East Anglia | J. Ewing RitchieWhy, in tossing up a halfpenny, do we reckon it equally probable that we shall throw cross or pile?
A System of Logic: Ratiocinative and Inductive | John Stuart MillThe flowers are lovely; you can buy a big bunch of violets for a son, and sou is the peasant word for a halfpenny.
Round the Wonderful World | G. E. Mitton
British Dictionary definitions for halfpenny
ha'penny
/ (ˈheɪpnɪ, for sense 1 ˈhɑːfˌpɛnɪ) /
Also called: half plural -pennies a small British coin worth half a new penny, withdrawn from circulation in 1985
plural -pennies an old British coin worth half an old penny
plural -pence the sum represented by half a penny
plural -pence something of negligible value
(modifier) having the value or price of a halfpenny
(modifier) of negligible value
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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