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.
Stock Exchange. of, pertaining to, or being penny stock: frenzied speculation in the penny market.
—Idioms
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.
Chiefly BritishSlang. spend a penny, 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: bef. 900; ME peni, OE penig, pænig, pen(n)ing, pending, c. OFris penning, panning, OS, D penning, OHG pfenning, phantinc, phenting (G Pfennig), ON penningr (perh. < OE); < WGmc or Gmc *pandingaz, prob. equiv. to *pand-pawn2+ *-ingaz-ing3]
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.
Nail\, n. [AS. n[ae]gel, akin to D. nagel, OS ? OHG. nagal, G. nagel, Icel. nagl, nail (in sense 1), nagli nail (in sense 3), Sw. nagel nail (in senses 1 and 3), Dan. nagle, Goth. ganagljan to nail, Lith. nagas nail (in sense 1), Russ. nogote, L. unguis, Gr. ?, Skr. nakha. ?]1. (Anat.) the horny scale of plate of epidermis at the end of the fingers and toes of man and many apes. His nayles like a briddes claws were. --Chaucer. Note: The nails are strictly homologous with hoofs and claws. When compressed, curved, and pointed, they are called talons or claws, and the animal bearing them is said to be unguiculate; when they incase the extremities of the digits they are called hoofs, and the animal is ungulate. 2. (Zo["o]l.) (a) The basal thickened portion of the anterior wings of certain hemiptera. (b) The terminal horny plate on the beak of ducks, and other allied birds. 3. A slender, pointed piece of metal, usually with a head, used for fastening pieces of wood or other material together, by being driven into or through them. Note: The different sorts of nails are named either from the use to which they are applied, from their shape, from their size, or from some other characteristic, as shingle, floor, ship-carpenters', and horseshoe nails, roseheads, diamonds, fourpenny, tenpenny (see Penny, a.), chiselpointed, cut, wrought, or wire nails, etc. 4. A measure of length, being two inches and a quarter, or the sixteenth of a yard. Nail ball (Ordnance), a round projectile with an iron bolt protruding to prevent it from turning in the gun. Nail plate, iron in plates from which cut nails are made. On the nail, in hand; on the spot; immediately; without delay or time of credit; as, to pay money on the nail. "You shall have ten thousand pounds on the nail." --Beaconsfield. To hit the nail on the head, to hit most effectively; to do or say a thing in the right way.
(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).
![[P]](http://cache.lexico.com/g/d/premium_mh.gif){kind=small}
Audio Help [pen-ee] Pronunciation Key noun, plural pen·nies, (esp. collectively for 2, 3) pence, adjective 
