| 释义 |
sixpenny, a. and n.|ˈsɪkspənɪ|
[six a.]
1. sixpenny nail, a nail originally costing sixpence per hundred. (See penny 10.) Also fig.
1426–7[see penny 10]. 1486Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 16, cc vj peny nailes xijd. 1494–5Sarum Churchw. Acc. (ed. Swayne) 43 Pro clauis voc' sixpeny nayle iijd. 1607T. Walkington Opt. Glass 128 Rap at the wicket with the six⁓penny nayle of modesty. 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 244 Four Penny, and Six Penny Nails, used for Pantile Lathing. 1730Phil. Trans. XXXVI. 309 A prepared Six-penny (or..a Ten-penny) Nail. 1833Penny Cycl. I. 119/1 A six⁓penny nail, 73 to the lb., 2½ inches long. 1869Rankine Machine & Hand-tools App. 46 The force required to draw a ‘sixpenny nail’ of 73 to the lb.
2. Of persons: That may be hired for sixpence; earning no more than sixpence; worth only sixpence; paltry, petty. Also of things.
Common as a depreciatory term c 1590–1630.
1561Preston K. Cambyses B iij, Ruff. I will giue thee sixpence to lie one night with thee. Mer. Gogs hart, slaue, doost thinke I am a sixpeny Jug? 1589Nashe Anat. Absurd. Epist., The birthright of euerie six pennie slaue. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. i. 82, I am ioyned with no Footland-Rakers, no Long-staffe six-penny strikers. 1632Massinger City Madam iii. i, Swaggering, suburbian roarers, Sixpenny truckers. 1633Ford Love's Sacr. ii. iii, The poorest peasant that ever was yok'd to a sixpenny strumpet. 1788Burns Let. to Mrs. Dunlop 21 Jan., Lately I was a six⁓penny private, and, God knows, a miserable soldier enough. 1878H. M. Jackson Travel at Home 11 She didn't never want to see any o' them sixpenny towns agin. 1911G. B. Shaw Doctor's Dilemma p. xxvi, The sixpenny doctor, with his low prices and quick turnover of patients, visibly makes much more than you. 1927Kipling Limits & Renewals (1932) 164 When I was a sixpenny doctor at Lambeth.
3. a. Costing, or priced at, sixpence.
1591Nashe Pref. Sidney's Astr. & Stella, An Asse is no great statesman..though he..look as demurely as a six⁓penny browne loafe. 1614B. Jonson Barth. Fair ii. ii, Bring him a sixpenny bottle of ale. 1678Lond. Gaz. No. 1348/4 Eight pieces of Six-peny broad black taffaty Ribon. 1711Swift Jrnl. to Stella 27 Apr., I went to town in the sixpenny stage to-day. 1760–72Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) III. 110 A shilling, to buy two six-penny loaves. 1904Daily Chron. 11 Mar. 3/5 It is generally accepted..that the six⁓penny reprint has come to stay.
b. Bringing in sixpence; having a subscription of sixpence; selling articles at sixpence.
1673Humours Town 29 To make the Voyage of the Strand..in search of some Six-penny Adventure. 1807Syd. Smith P. Plymley's Lett. iv, I hear from some persons in Parliament, and from others in the sixpenny societies for debate [etc.]. 1888Daily News 23 Nov. 7/2 A ‘sixpenny bazaar’, an emporium where any article on sale was to be had for a sixpence.
c. As n. A book (esp. a novel) or magazine published at sixpence.
1840Knickerbocker XV. 138 The larger newspaper establishments, satirically termed by their Lilliputian rivals, ‘the respectable sixpennies’. 1894Literary World 30 Nov. 432/1 Has the knell of the solid Sixpennies been sounded?
d. As n. A cinema seat that costs sixpence.
1958Listener 4 Dec. 927/2 A small boy sitting in the sixpennies at the Bijou Cinema.
4. Amounting to, having the value of, sixpence.
sixpenny bit or sixpenny piece (now Hist.), = sixpence 2.
1592Greene Groat's W. Wit (1617) 3 A sixepenny reward in signe of my superficiall liberality. 1605London Prodigal v. i. 72 Ile not let a sixepennie-purse escape me. 1712H. Prideaux Direct. Ch.-Wardens (ed. 4) 99 This is done for the base Lucre of a Six-penny or Twelve-penny Fee. 1842J. Bischoff Woollen Manuf. II. 157 A sixpenny duty on the import. 1852Bristed Five Yrs. Eng. Univ. (ed. 2) 335 Non-reading men play..for the lowest possible (sixpenny) points. 1897M. Kingsley Travels in W. Afr. xxvi. 589 A piece of ground the size of a sixpenny piece. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 837 It is round or oval, the size of a threepenny or sixpenny piece. |