单词 | tenpence |
释义 | tenpencen. A sum of money equal to ten pennies; sometimes used contemptuously, as only tenpence in the shilling, etc. because the amount is incomplete: cf. tenpenny n.; since 1971 in the U.K., a coin worth ten (new) pence superseding the earlier two-shilling piece or florin; often as two words with pronunciation /tɛn/, /pɛns/. Also attributive as tenpence coin, tenpence piece, a decimal coin worth ten pence. †So transferred, a foreign coin of roughly equivalent value, a franc, a lira. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > foreign coins > [noun] > of specific English value ninepencec1525 tenpencec1592 society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > English coins > [noun] > tenpence > decimal tenpenny piece1968 tenpence1971 c1592 C. Marlowe Jew of Malta iv. iv Gentleman! he flouts me: What gentry can be in a poor Turk of tenpence? 1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones V. xiv. iii. 132 As sure as ten Pence, this is the very young Gentleman. View more context for this quotation 1860 J. C. Hotten Dict. Slang (ed. 2) Tenpence to the shilling, a vulgar phrase denoting a deficiency in intellect. 1875 J. Ruskin Fors Clavigera V. lvi. 218 I never pass a begging friar without giving him sixpence, or the equivalent fivepence of foreign coin;—extending the charity even occasionally as far as tenpence, if no fivepenny-bit chance to be in my purse. 1903 J. S. Farmer & W. E. Henley Slang VII. i. 95/1 Only tenpence in the shilling, a description of weak intellect. 1922 J. Buchan Huntingtower vii. 142 There's a certain old lady, an aunt of Mr. Quentin and his sisters, who has always been about tenpence in the shilling. a1935 W. Holtby South Riding (1936) 9 ‘Mental?’ ‘Tenpence halfpenny in the shilling.’ 1971 P. Purser Holy Father's Navy xxiv. 114 I gave her a ten pence piece and hurried away. 1974 A. Fowles Pastime xii. 98 Awkward, that had been, in a phone box. He'd used up two ten pences. 1976 G. Seymour Glory Boys xi. 144 He put down two tenpence coins. Derivatives ˈtenpenceworth n. the amount of anything to be bought for tenpence; used contemptuously. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > quantity > smallness of quantity, amount, or degree > [noun] > a small quantity or amount > a very small amount shredc1000 farthingsworthc1325 pennyworthc1330 incha1350 sliverc1374 chipa1393 gnastc1440 Jack1530 spoonful1531 crumba1535 spark1548 slight1549 pin's worth1562 scruple1574 thought1581 pinch1583 scrap1583 splinter1609 ticket1634 notchet1637 indivisible1644 tinyc1650 twopence1691 turn of the scale(s)1706 enough to swear by1756 touch1786 scrimptiona1825 infinitesimal1840 smidgen1841 snuff1842 fluxion1846 smitchel1856 eyelash1860 smidge1866 tenpenceworth1896 whisker1913 tidge1986 1896 G. B. Shaw Let. 16 Nov. in E. Terry & G. B. Shaw Corr. (1931) 124 I have been to Paris, and seen Peer Gynt done in the sentimentallest French style with tenpence~worth of scenery. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.c1592 |
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