penny

[ pen-ee ]
See synonyms for penny on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural pen·nies, (especially collectively for 3, 4) pence.
  1. a copper and zinc U.S. coin, worth one 100th of the U.S. dollar; one cent. Previous compositions of U.S. pennies included certain percentages of nickel and steel.

  2. a coin worth one 100th of the dollar of various other nations, although several of these nations, as Australia and New Zealand, no longer use pennies.

  1. Also called new penny . a copper-plated steel, formerly bronze, coin of the United Kingdom, one 100th of a pound. Abbreviation: p

  2. a former bronze coin and monetary unit of the United Kingdom and various other nations, one 12th of a shilling: use phased out in 1971. Abbreviation: d.

  3. a sum of money: He spent every penny he ever earned.

  4. the length of a nail in terms of certain standard designations, as eightpenny and sixtypenny.

adjective
  1. Stock Exchange. of, relating to, or being penny stock: frenzied speculation in the penny market.

Idioms about penny

  1. a bad penny, someone or something undesirable.

  2. a pretty penny, Informal. a considerable sum of money: Their car must have cost them a pretty penny.

  1. spend a penny, Chiefly British Slang. to urinate.

  2. turn an honest penny, to earn one's living honestly; make money by fair means: He's never turned an honest penny in his life.

Origin of penny

1
First recorded before 900; Middle English peni, Old English penig, pænig, pen(n)ning, pending, cognate with Old Frisian penning, panning, Old Saxon, Dutch penning, Old High German pfenning, phantinc, phenting (German Pfennig ), Old Norse penningr (perhaps from Old English ); from unattested West Germanic or Germanic pandingaz, probably equivalent to unattested pand- + unattested -ingaz; see -ing3. The origin of spend a penny is from the former cost of using a public lavatory

Other words from penny

  • pen·nied, adjective
  • un·pen·nied, adjective

Words that may be confused with penny

Words Nearby penny

Other definitions for Penny (2 of 2)

Penny
[ pen-ee ]

noun
  1. a female given name, form of Penelope.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use penny in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for penny

penny

/ (ˈpɛnɪ) /


nounplural pennies or pence (pɛns)
  1. Also called (formerly): new penny (in Britain) a bronze coin having a value equal to one hundredth of a pound: Symbol: p

  2. (in Britain before 1971) a bronze or copper coin having a value equal to one twelfth of a shilling or one two-hundred-and-fortieth of a pound: Abbreviation: d

  1. a former monetary unit of the Republic of Ireland worth one hundredth of a pound

  2. plural pennies (in the US and Canada) a cent

  3. a coin of similar value, as used in several other countries

  4. (used with a negative) informal, mainly British the least amount of money: I don't have a penny

  5. a bad penny informal, mainly British an objectionable person or thing (esp in the phrase turn up like a bad penny)

  6. a pretty penny informal a considerable sum of money

  7. spend a penny British informal to urinate

  8. the penny dropped informal, mainly British the explanation of something was finally realized

  9. two a penny plentiful but of little value

Origin of penny

1
Old English penig, pening; related to Old Saxon penni (n) g, Old High German pfeni (n) c, German Pfennig

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

Other Idioms and Phrases with penny

penny

In addition to the idioms beginning with penny

  • penny for your thoughts, a
  • penny pincher
  • penny saved is a penny earned, a
  • penny wise and pound foolish

also see:

  • in for a penny, in for a pound
  • pinch pennies
  • pretty penny
  • turn up (like a bad penny)

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.