penny anten.adj.
/ˌpɛnɪ ˈanti/, U.S. /ˈpɛni ˈæn(t)i/ U.S.
A. n.
The game of poker when the ante is fixed at one penny or a similarly insignificant stake.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > poker > [noun] > varieties of
vaunt1598
brag1734
draw poker1847
penny ante1855
freeze-out1856
draw1857
straight poker1864
stud poker1864
mistigris1875
highball1878
whisky-poker1878
stud-horse poker1881
stud horse1882
stud1884
showdown poker1892
show poker1895
red dog1919
showdown1927
strip-poker1929
manilla1930
Hold 'Em1964
Texas Hold 'Em1968
pai gow poker1985
1855 ‘Q. K. P. Doesticks’ Doesticks, what he Says 259 Napoleon spends most of his time playing penny ‘ante’ with the three Graces.
1894 Outing 24 72/1 They play penny-ante with feverish absorption.
1936 L. Hellman Days to Come iii. 88 We always used to play penny-ante there.
1976 M. Machlin Pipeline v. 63 Prices were offered that made Royal American's earlier bids seem like penny ante.
2003 News-Press (Fort Myers, Florida) (Nexis) 26 Dec. 1 d We played penny ante.
B. adj.
Insignificant, trivial.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [adjective] > of little importance or trivial
eathlyc890
lighteOE
littleOE
small?c1225
singlec1449
easy1474
triflous1509
naughty1526
slender1530
slight1548
shrimpish1549
slipper1567
truanta1572
toyous1581
trivious1583
mean1585
silly1587
nicea1594
puny?1594
puisne1598
pusill1599
whindling1601
sapless1602
non-significant1603
poor1603
unsignificant1603
flea-bite1605
perishing1605
lank1607
weightless1610
fonda1616
penny farthing1615
triviala1616
unweighty1621
transitory1637
twattling1651
inconsiderate1655
unserious1655
nugal1656
small drink1656
slighty1662
minute1668
paddling1679
snitling1682
retail1697
Lilliputian1726
vain1731
rattletrap1760
peppercornish1762
peppercorn1791
underling1804
venial1806
lightweight1809
floccinaucical1826
small-bore1833
minified1837
trantlum1838
piffling1848
tea-tabular1855
potty1860
whipping-snapping1861
tea-gardeny1862
quiddling1863
twaddling1863
fidgeting1865
penny ante1865
feather-weighted1870
jerkwater1877
midget1879
mimsy1880
shirttail1881
two-by-four1885
footle1894
skittery1905
footery1929
Mickey Mouse1931
chickenshit1934
minoritized1945
marginal1952
marginalized1961
tea-party1961
little league1962
marginalizing1977
minnowy1991
1865 J. R. Dennett South as it Is i, in Nation 20 July 76/1 A'n't they a ‘penny-ante’ lookin' lot?
1907 Lippincott's Monthly Mag. Oct. 499 He's down in Arizona now, commanding a penny-ante post on the desert.
1946 Negro Digest Aug. 48/1 Compared to the man Bilbo, 63-year-old John Rankin is strictly penny ante and colorless.
1976 M. Maguire Scratchproof ix. 140 I'm not a penny-ante hood.
1995 Newsweek 27 Nov. 86/3 The mooks in ‘Mean Streets’ were penny ante next to these hoods.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1855