Meaning of halfpenny | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Senses chiefly with the plural form halfpennies.
   UK, also, attributive, historical
2. A discontinued English (later British) coin worth half of one penny (old or new).
   UK, also, attributive, historical
3. A surname transferred from the nickname.
4. A similar coin formerly used in Ireland and Scotland.
   Ireland, Scotland, also, attributive, broadly, historical
5. Senses chiefly with the plural form halfpence.
   UK, also, attributive, historical
6. An amount of money that the English (later British) coin was worth.
   UK, also, attributive, historical
7. An amount of money that the Irish or Scottish coin was worth.
   Ireland, Scotland, also, attributive, broadly, historical
8. A postage stamp worth half of one penny.
   broadly, historical
9. A usually semicircular earmark made in the ear of a livestock animal.
   Australia, US, archaic, broadly
10. A small piece; a fragment.
    broadly, figuratively, obsolete

Equivalents

Examples

“There vvere none principal, they vvere all like one another, as halfe pence are, euerie one fault ſeeming monſtrous, til his fellovv-fault came to match it.”

“[T]here are Thouſands vvho vvould not have contributed a ſingle Halfpenny, as indeed he did not in Effect, for he made no Tender of any thing; and therefore as the others thought proer to make no Demand, he kept his Money in his Pocket.”

“Whatever means he used in making his way to London, it is certain he made his entrance there with but a few halfpence in his pocket.”

“Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat, / Please to put a penny in the old man's hat, / If you haven't got a penny, a halfpenny will do, / If you haven't got a halfpenny—God bless you!”

“There ſhall be in England, ſeuen halfe peny Loaues ſold for a peny: the three hoop'd pot, ſhall haue ten hoopes, and I vvill make it Fellony to drink ſmall Beere.”

“My earlieſt vviſh vvas to eſcape unheeded through life; but I have been ſet up for half-pence, to fret and ſcamper at the end of my chain.”

“[I]t was bruited abroad that he was admitted into Dr. Swishtail's academy upon what are called 'mutual principles'—that is to say, the expenses of his board and schooling were defrayed by his father, in goods not money; […] The jokes were frightful, and merciless against him. […] Another would set a sum—"If a pound of mutton-candles cost sevenpence-halfpenny, how much must Dobbin cost?" and a roar would follow from all the circle of young knaves, usher and all, who rightly considered that the selling of goods by retail is a shameful and infamous practice, meriting the contempt and scorn of all real gentlemen.”

“O ſhe tore the letter into a thouſand halfpence, raild at her ſelf, that ſhe ſhould be ſo immodeſt to vvrite, to one that ſhe knevv vvould flout her, […]”

CEFR level