piceworthn.
/ˈpʌɪswəːθ/, /ˈpʌɪswəθ/, U.S. /ˈpaɪsˌwərθ/ Now rare.
As much as a pice purchases; (also, more generally) an amount of negligible value.
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society > trade and finance > monetary value > [noun] > amount of specific value > specific
pennyworthOE
halfpennywortha1035
shillingswortha1325
three-halfpennyworthc1440
sixpennyworthc1450
pounds worthc1460
groatsworth1562
penny1564
penny piece1601
threepennyworth1617
piceworth1832
two pennyworth1851
six1871
pounder1895
1832 W. Morton Bengali & Sanscrit Prov. 127 A thousand crows crowding about a pice-worth of sauce.
1875 Appletons' Jrnl. 16 Oct. 512/3 Whistlers differ as stars differ from one another, but we never heard one who could whistle equal to three piceworths of bamboo or a pennyworth of perforated tin.
1893 Times 30 Sept. 6/3 Will anyone who knows the common garden cooli..assert that it is not devout enthusiasm which causes him to fling down a rupee and get a piceworth of mahan prasad in return?
1925 W. H. Moreland & P. Geyl tr. F. Pelsaert Jahangir's India xii. 63 They steal whatever they can; if they buy only a pice-worth of food, they will take their share or dasturi (commission).
1992 ‘J. Gash’ Lies of Fair Ladies (1993) xiv. 97 Meaning never. Not a piceworth.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1832