| 释义 |
ninepence|ˈnaɪnpəns|
1. a. The sum of nine pence. Also in phrases, esp. as neat, etc., as ninepence.
to bring a noble to ninepence: see noble n.
1546[see shilling 5]. 1606Proclam. in Ruding Coinage (1840) I. 364 The said Harp Shillings should have..the name and value only of twelve Pence Irish,..being in true value no more than nine Pence English. 1607Dekker & Webster Sir Thos. Wyatt W.'s Wks. (Rtldg.) 197/2 Henceforth the Harpers for his sake, shall stand But for plain ninepence throughout all the land. 1607R. C. tr. Estienne's World of Wonders xv. 81 Hauing brought their twelue-pence to nine-pence, and their nine-pence to nothing. 1659J. Howell Eng. Proverbs 11/1 As fine as fippence, as neat as nine pence. 1670J. Ray Coll. Eng. Proverbs 206 As like as nine pence to nothing. a1704T. Brown tr. æneas Sylvius Lett. lxxxii. Wks. (1709) III. ii. 80 The Devil and nine Pence go with her, that's Money and Company. 1850F. E. Smedley Frank Fairlegh l. 444 Well, let her say ‘no’ as if she meant it,..and then it will all be as right as ninepence. 1857Blackw. Mag. LXXXI. 397 If I didn't see him whip a picture out of its frame, as neat as ninepence. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. i. ix, As grand as ninepence. 1881in Lanc. Gloss. s.v. Hondrunnin, He'd feight the whole lot on 'em,..as easy as ninepence. 1884Temple Bar Aug. 525 The trick of alliteration if often useful to give point to old proverbs. In such familiar sayings as ‘fine as fivepence’, ‘nice as ninepence’, ‘to lie by the legend’, its importance is most curious. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 106, I thought I was as right as ninepence. 1968‘C. Aird’ Henrietta Who? iv. 37 A rare old state it was in..but your mother..had it right as ninepence in next to no time.
b. (nobbut, no more than) ninepence in the shilling: of imperfect intelligence, mentally retarded. dial. and colloq.
1889E. Peacock Gloss. Words Manley & Corringham, Lincolnshire (ed. 2) 370 Nine-pence-to-the-shilling, below the average in common sense. ‘How's Mr..? Thaay do saay as he's nobut nine-pence-to-th'-shilling.’—M. F., Scotton, 1876. 1951J. B. Priestley Festival at Farbridge iii. ii. 521 She's got a husband who's..ninepence in the shilling, a bit barmy. 1957M. Kennedy Heroes of Clone ii. iii. 97 She's ninepence in the shilling. 1964‘A. Gilbert’ Fingerprint v. 77 While they might be sympathetic, it was more likely they thought her child no more than ninepence in the shilling.
2. A coin of the value of nine pence. nimble ninepence: see nimble a. 3 d.
In former English use applied to the Irish shilling, which passed current for ninepence (see quots. 1606–7 above). In the United States a name for the Spanish real.
1663Butler Hud. i. i. 487 Like Commendation Nine-pence crookt With—To and from my Love—it lookt. 1679Exec. Bury 6 They had an Art to make a Nine-pence or Groat just new made, look as if it had been Coined these hundred years. 1706Lond. Gaz. No. 4234/5 Several old Nine-Pences and old Shillings, and many Milled Pence. 1722De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 46 With ninepences, and fourpence-halfpennies,..Scotch and Irish coin. 1812Byron Waltz xiii. note, A new ninepence—a creditable coin now forthcoming, worth a pound, in paper, at the fairest calculation. 1860O. W. Holmes Poet Breakf.-t. iii, Give me two fo'pencehappenies for a ninepence. |