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turn an honest penny

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pen⋅ny

  [pen-ee] noun, plural pen⋅nies, (especially collectively for 2, 3) pence, adjective
Use turn an honest penny in a Sentence
–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. 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 British Slang. 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- pawn 2 + *-ingaz -ing 3

Related forms:
pennied, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Slang Dictionary
penny

  1. n.
    a police officer. (A play on copper. See the note at copper.) : The penny over on the corner told the boys to get moving.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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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, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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