† span-farthingn.
Obsolete.
A game played with farthings after the same manner as span-counter.
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > table game > other table games > [noun] > span-counter or farthing
span-counter1566
hand-point1659
span-farthing1688
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory (1905) iii. xvi. 82/1 Playes with Instruments... Span Farthing.
1695 J. Locke Some Thoughts conc. Educ. (new ed.) §70. 101 Learning to wrangle at Trap, or rook at Span-farthing.
1728 J. Swift Intelligencer (1729) ix. 90 His chief Solace is to steal down, and play at Span-Farthing with the Page, or young Black-a-moor.
1764 R. Hurd Dial. Uses Foreign Travel 109 You might as well..advance him directly to the boy's top and span-farthing, as [etc.].
1777 Gamblers 6 Span-farthing, Hustle-cap, their joy and sport.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1913; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
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n.1688