penny
Use Penny in a sentence
i noun
1.
a bronze coin, the 100th part of the dollars of various nations, as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States; one cent.
2.
Also called new penny. a bronze coin and monetary unit of the United Kingdom and various other nations, the 100th part of a pound. Abbreviation: p
3.
a former bronze coin and monetary unit of the United Kingdom and various other nations, the 12th part of a shilling: use phased out in 1971. Abbreviation: d.
4.
a sum of money: He spent every penny he ever earned.
5.
the length of a nail in terms of certain standard designations from twopenny to sixtypenny.
adjective
6.
00:10
Penny
is always a great word to know.
So is gobo. Does it mean:
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
| a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare. |
7.
a bad penny, someone or something undesirable.
8.
a pretty penny, Informal. a considerable sum of money: Their car must have cost them a pretty penny.
9.
spend a penny, Chiefly British Slang. to urinate: from the former cost of using a public lavatory.
10.
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:
before 900; Middle English peni, Old English penig, pænig, pen(n)ing, pending, cognate with Old Frisian penning, panning, Old Saxon, Dutch penning, Old High German pfenning, phantinc, phenting (German Pfennig), Old Norse penningr (perhaps < OE); < West Germanic or Germanic *pandingaz, probably equivalent to *pand- pawn2 + *-ingaz -ing3
before 900; Middle English peni, Old English penig, pænig, pen(n)ing, pending, cognate with Old Frisian penning, panning, Old Saxon, Dutch penning, Old High German pfenning, phantinc, phenting (German Pfennig), Old Norse penningr (perhaps < OE); < West Germanic or Germanic *pandingaz, probably equivalent to *pand- pawn2 + *-ingaz -ing3
Related forms
pen·nied, adjective
un·pen·nied, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To penny
Collins
World English Dictionary
penny (ˈpɛnɪ) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n , pl pennies, pence, pennies | |
| 1. | Also called (formerly): new penny, p (in Britain) a bronze coin having a value equal to one hundredth of a pound |
| 2. | d (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 |
| 3. | a former monetary unit of the Republic of Ireland worth one hundredth of a pound |
| 4. | (in the US and Canada) a cent |
| 5. | a coin of similar value, as used in several other countries |
| 6. | informal chiefly (Brit) (used with a negative) the least amount of money: I don't have a penny |
| 7. | informal chiefly (Brit) a bad penny an objectionable person or thing (esp in the phrase turn up like a bad penny) |
| 8. | informal a pretty penny a considerable sum of money |
| 9. | informal (Brit) spend a penny to urinate |
| 10. | informal chiefly (Brit) the penny dropped the explanation of something was finally realized |
| 11. | two a penny plentiful but of little value |
| [Old English penig, pening; related to Old Saxon penni(n)g, Old High German pfeni(n)c, German Pfennig] | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
penny
O.E. pening, penig "penny," from P.Gmc. *panninggaz (cf. O.N. penningr, Swed. pänning, O.Fris. panning, M.Du. pennic, O.H.G. pfenning, Ger. Pfennig, not recorded in Goth., where skatts is used instead), of unknown origin. The English coin was originally set at one-twelfth of a shilling and was of
silver, later copper, then bronze. There are two plural forms: pennies of individual coins, pence collectively. In translations it rendered various foreign coins of small denomination, esp. L. denarius, whence comes its abbreviation d. As Amer.Eng. colloquial for cent, it is recorded from 1889. Penniless "destitute" is attested from c.1310. Pennyweight is O.E. penega gewiht, originally the weight of a silver penny. Penny-a-liner "writer for a journal or newspaper" is attested from 1834. Penny dreadful "cheap and gory fiction" dates from c.1870. Phrase penny-wise and pound-foolish is recorded from 1607.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Easton
Bible Dictionary
Penny definition
(Gr. denarion), a silver coin of the value of about 7 1/2d. or 8d. of our present money. It is thus rendered in the New Testament, and is more frequently mentioned than any other coin (Matt. 18:28; 20:2, 9, 13; Mark 6:37; 14:5, etc.). It was the daily pay of a Roman soldier in the time of Christ. In the reign of Edward III. an English penny was a labourer's day's wages. This was the "tribute money" with reference to which our Lord said, "Whose image and superscription is this?" When they answered, "Caesar's," he replied, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's" (Matt. 22:19; Mark 12:15).
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases
penny
In addition to the idioms beginning with penny, also see in for a penny, in for a pound; pinch pennies; pretty penny; turn up (like a bad penny).
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Example sentences from the web
A hundred nails that sold for six pence were six penny nails.
Thus the larger nails have a larger number for its penny size.
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