| 释义 |
penny|ˈpɛnɪ|
Pl. pennies |ˈpɛnɪz|, pence |pɛns|. Forms: see below.
[OE. pęning, pęnding, pęnning, later pęniᵹ = OFris. panning, pęnning, -ig, OS. pęnning (MLG., LG. pennink; MDu. penninc, -ing-, also pēni(n)c; Du. penning), OHG. pfęnning (phantinc, phęnting), pfęnting (MHG. pfenninc, -ic, -ig-, Ger. pfennig), ON. pęnningr (mod.Icel. peningr, Sw., ODa. penning, Da. pl. penge = ON. pęngar ‘money’); not recorded in Goth. (which has skatts for δηνάριος in N.T.). In early ME., Ormin had still peninng; but the usual ME. form after 1200 was peni, peny, from OE. peniᵹ. The forms with double n in OE. were chiefly Northumbrian; in ME. pennie, penny, with nn, was app. not used till the 15th c. OE. and early ME. had also, less usually, like OFris., forms in pan-. In ME. the plural paneȝes, peneȝes, passed through panes, pannes, peniis, penis, to the 14th c. pans, pens, the latter duly spelt in 16th c. pence. But, beside this, the fuller penys, pennys, pennies, continued in restricted use: see the forms in A. 2 β, and signification in B. 1 c.
The OE. and cognate forms point back to the types *paning, *panding, *panning, a series which does not conform to any phonetic law, but suggests that the word was foreign and of unsettled form. But it was evidently of WGer., or even (unless the ON. was borrowed from OE.) of Common Germanic age. No foreign source however is known; and the suffix -ing, occurring in other names of coins, as shilling, farthing, OHG. cheisuring, etc., bespeaks at least a Teutonic formation on a radical element pand or pan(n). This has been sought in WGer. *pand, OHG. pfant, pawn, with reference to a possible use of the panding; and in WGer. panna, Ger. pfanne pan, with possible reference to shape. Of these words themselves the Germanic origin is uncertain.]
A. Illustration of Forms.
1. sing. α1 pending, pening, -inc, -penning; 3 (Orm.) peninng. β1 pæniᵹ, paniᵹ, pæni, 1–2 peniᵹ, 2–4 peni, 4 pane- (in comp.), 4–8 peny, 5 penye, -ey, 5–7 penie, (6 peany); 5–8 pennie, (6 -ye), 5– penny.
α835Pending [see B. 1]. c950Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xxii. 19 ᵹebrohtun him penning [Ags. G. anne peninc, v.r. ænne peniᵹ; Hatton enne paniᵹ]. c1000ælfric Gram. xxv. (Z.) 50 Hic as, þes peningc [v.rr. pening, peniᵹ, pæni]. c1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. xx. 9 Þa onfengon hiᵹ ælc his pening [Hatton paniᵹ; Lindisf. suindriᵹo penningas]. c1200Ormin 3281 Illc mann an peninng ȝæfe. Ibid. 3287.
βc1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. xx. 2 He sealde ælcon ænne peniᵹ [Hatton ænne pæniᵹ]. c1160Hatton Gosp. Matt. xx. 9 Þa onfengen hi ælch hys paniᵹ [Ags. Gosp. pening, peniᵹ]. a1200Moral Ode 67 He alse mid his penie se þe oþer mid his punde. a1300Cursor M. 22328 For a peni [Fairf. peny] hit sal be salde. c1450Merlin x. 142 For a penny that ye lese on this side, ye shall wynne tweyne. 1530Palsgr. 253/1 Penny coyne, denier. 1584D. Powel Lloyd's Cambria 71 To giue them a penie for euerie man. 1590Recorde, etc. Gr. Artes (1640) 326 That a sterling peny, round without clipping, did then weigh 32 cornes of wheat dry. 1668Marvell Corr. Wks. 1872–5 II. 186 The taking of an half-peny and a peny. 1673C. Hatton in H. Corr. (Camden) 118 To be shewn as a sight, peni apiece.
2. pl.. α1 peningas, pendingas, pen(d)i(n)cas. β1–2 peneᵹas, pan-, 2–3 peneȝes, paneȝes, -as, 3 panewes, pone-, -wæs; peniis, -ijs, 3–4 panes, 4 pannes, penis, 4–5 penyes, 4–6 penies, Sc. pennyse, (5 peyneyes, pennis), 5–6 penys, pennys, -is, (Sc.) -eis, 6 (Sc.) pennyis, 6– pennies. γ4–5 pans, (4 pons), 4–6 pens, 5–6 pense, 6– pence. δ5 penses, -ys.
α835Will in Thorpe Charters 474 Se mann se to londe foe aȝefe hire erfehonda xiii. pund pendingæ. c890K. ælfred Laws c. 3 (Schmid 72) ᵹebete..þæs borᵹes bryce mid v pundum mærra pæninga. c897― Gregory's Past. C. l. 391 We wiernað urum cildum urra peninga mid to pleᵹianne. c950Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xx. 9 Onfengon suindriᵹo penningas.
βc1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. xx. 10 Þa onfengon hiᵹ syndriᵹe peneᵹas [Hatton sindrie paneᵹes]. Ibid. Luke x. 35 [He] brohte oðrum dæᵹe tweᵹen peneᵹas [Lindisf. tuoeᵹe peñd, Hatton paneȝes]. c1175Lamb. Hom. 85 Þa twein peneȝes. c1200Vices & Virtues 79 Befasteð here paneȝes ðe haðene menn. c1205Lay. 2369 Pælles and purpras And guldene ponewæs [c 1275 panewes]. Ibid. 14684 Twalf panewes. a1290S. Eustace 6 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 211 Of gold and ponewes [v.r. penyes] rounde. c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 263/93 A man, Þat ȝaf hire þreo rounde panes. a1300Fall & Passion 58 in E.E.P. (1862) 14 For xxx peniis he him sold. a1300Cursor M. 4835 (Cott.) Al redi penijs [Gött. penis] for to tell. Ibid. 13483 Qua had o penis thre hundreth Bred for to bi. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints vii. (Jacobus) 738 For pennyse thretty. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 345 Also þis [Saturn] ordeyned pannes of bras. c1400Apol. Loll. 52 Of hem þat ȝeuen a peney, or peyneyes, to prestis. a1425Cursor M. 13483 (Trin.) Who so had penies þre hundreþe. 1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 18037 The pennis that iudas toke. c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 6346 Penys foure or fyue. 1500–20Dunbar Poems xxxiv. 63 Gif I ten dayis wan pennyis thre. 1512Act 4 Hen. VIII, c. 19 §14 All manner of pennys beyng siluer. a1649Drummond of Hawthornden Hist. Jas. I, Wks. (1711) 3 Twelve pennies of the pound.
γc1305Judas Iscariot 133 in E.E.P. (1862) 110 Þe teoþing þerof was þrettie pans. 1340Ayenb. 23 Þri manere of guodes..þet þe dyeuel wyle begge mid his pans. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. Prol. 86 Seriauns..Pleden for pons and poundes þe lawe. 1377Ibid. B. v. 243 To wey pens with a peys. 1382Wyclif John xii. 5 Whi is not this oynement seeld for thre hundrid pens? 1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 17732 The pound for xxty pans I selle. a1500in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. iv. 424, 21 pense in pense and half pense. 1526Tindale Matt. xviii. 28 Wone off his felowes which ought hym an hundred pence. 1549Brasenose Coll. Muniments 18. 59, Fore pense.
δ1482Monk of Evesham (Arb.) 52 Tho fyrye pensys y was compellyd to deuoure with an opyn mowthe. 1495Rolls of Parlt. VI. 463/1 Receptes of Penses to the same Elizabeth.
B. Signification.
I. Original senses.
1. a. An English coin of the value of 1/12 of a shilling, or 1/240 of a pound; originally and for many centuries of silver, in later times of copper, (after 1860) of bronze. Denoted (after a numeral) by d. (for denarius, denarii); thus, 5d., fivepence. After 15 Feb. 1971 a smaller coin of the value of 1/100 of a pound, for a while known as the new penny (see new a. 4). Denoted (after a numeral) by p (see P II, pee n.6).
The coining of silver pennies for general circulation ceased with the reign of Charles II; a small number have since been regularly coined as Maundy money. Copper pennies began to be coined in 1797; copper halfpence and farthings having been used from the time of Charles II.
a725Laws of Ine c. 59 (from ælfred's compilation, earliest MS. c 925) Oxan horn bið x pæninga [v. rr. peninga, peniᵹa, peneᵹa] weorð. 835in Thorpe Dipl. ævi Sax. (1865) 47 And him mon forᵹefe ðeran ðreotene hund pending[a]. a1000Ecgbert. Pœnit. iv. lx. (Thorpe Laws II. 222), Se riht scylling byþ a be xii peneᵹum. a1131O.E. Chron. an. 1124 Se peniᵹ wæs swa ifel þæt se man þa hæfde..an pund he ne mihte cysten þær of for nan þing twelfe peneᵹas. c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 238 Edward did smyte rounde peny, halfpeny, ferthyng,..Þe kynges side salle be þe hede & his name writen, Þe croyce side what cite it was in coyned & smyten. 1485Caxton Chas. Gt. 245, iiij pens of money courant yerely. Ibid. 246 They shold wyth a good wylle pay the penyes. 1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. iii. ii. 85 Nay by S. Iamy, I hold you a penny, A horse and a man is more then one, and yet not many. 1706Phillips, Penny, a small Coin..; its Weight is 32 Grains of Wheat well dried. 1710J. Harris Lex. Techn. II, Penny, Denarius, was the first coined piece of Silver we have any account of; and for many Years the only one. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v., The penny sterling is now nigh disused as a coin; and scarce subsists, but as a money of account. 1797Proclam. 26 July in Lond. Gaz. No. 14031/1 We have thought fit to order, that certain Pieces of Copper shall be coined, which should go and pass for One Penny,..and that each of such Pieces of One Penny should weigh One Ounce Avoirdupois. 1837Penny Cycl. VII. 330/1 The first English [silver] pennies weigh 22½ grains troy. Towards the close of Edward III the penny weighs 18 grains, and in the reign of Edward IV it fell to 12, after previously sinking to 15. In..1551, the penny was reduced to 8 grains, and after the 43rd of Eliz. to 723/31 grains, at which weight it still continues. 1971Daily Tel. 8 Mar. 12 He partly pre-empted his Budget last autumn..by promising six old pennies off the income tax.
b. Applied to local or other varieties of this coin, sometimes of different value.
Irish penny, Manx penny, copper pennies of the same value as the penny sterling with a different design on the reverse, formerly coined for Ireland and the Isle of Man; Scots penny, a coin or monetary unit, equal in 17th c. to one-twelfth of the English penny; † penny deble, † penny force: see quot. 1598.
1538Aberdeen Regr. (1844) I. 158 Dauid Bruce..promittit to pay me the soume of thretty poundis in penny and penny⁓wortht Scottis. 1598Stow Surv. 43 The penny weyght [to weigh] 24. graynes (which 24. by weight then appointed, were as much as the former 32. graynes of weight), a pennie force, 25. graynes and a halfe, the pennie deble, or feeble 22. graines and a halfe. 1617Moryson Itin. i. 283 The Scots haue of long time had..Placks, which they esteemed for 4 pence, but 3 of them make an English penny; also Hard⁓heads, esteemed by them at one penny halfe-penny, whereof eight make an English penny. Ibid. 284 They [the Irish] had little brasse pence, and pence of a second kinde, called Harpers, being as big as an English shilling. They had also brasse farthings, called smulkins, whereof foure made a penny. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. 25/1 An Irish Penny..hath the Stamp of the Harp and Crown upon it. 1786A. de Cardonnel Numism. Scot. 24 Table I. In which is shown how many numeral pounds, shillings, and pennies Scots were coined out of one pound weight of gold. a1850Jas. Gray Introd. Arith. (ed. 100) 11 (Scotch Money), 2 Pennies = 1 Bodle = 1/6d. Sterling. 2 Bodles = 1 Plack = 1/3d. 3 Placks or 12 Pennies = 1 Shilling = 1d. [sterling]. 1898G. B. Rawlings Brit. Coinage 135 The last Irish coinage took place under George IV, when pennies and halfpennies were struck..1823. Ibid. 192 George III. coined pennies and halfpennies for Man in 1786... Rev., Three legs conjoined at the hip. Ibid., Queen Victoria coined a Manx penny, halfpenny, and farthing, in 1839 only... This is the last coinage for the Isle of Man. Ibid. 210 In 1870 a series of nickel pennies, halfpennies and farthings was begun for Jamaica.
c. (Chiefly in reference to the pre-1970 coinage.) The full plural, pennies (A. 2 β), is now used only of the individual coins; pence (A. 2 γ) is usually collective, expressing the amount, however made up; but it is sometimes used of individual coins, when no stress is laid upon their being such. Pence is especially used after numerals, where from twopence to elevenpence (rarely twelvepence) and in twentypence, it is stressless |ˈtʌpəns| and now written in combination. With other numbers pence is written separately (or hyphened) and has a separate stress, as ˈeighteen ˈpence.
When such a combination means a single coin, or even a single amount, it is treated as a single substantive, and may have a plural, e.g. ‘a new sixpence’, ‘two sixpences’; ‘the school-children's twopences’, ‘how many eightpences are there in ten shillings?’ See twopence, threepence, etc. To such combinations, halfpenny and farthing are added without and, e.g. ‘postage twopence-halfpenny’, ‘the early penny-farthing foreign post-card’, ‘a sixpence-halfpenny shop’. These phrases may also take a plural: see quot. 1724. Adjective or attributive uses of these combinations are formed with -penny, e.g. twopenny, etc.: see 10.
c1000–[see examples under A. 2 β]. c1305–[see under A. 2 γ]. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 36 To curse a man for sexe pans. 1436Libel Eng. Policy in Pol. Songs (Rolls) II. 175, xij pens in the golden pounde. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. i. ii. 55 Oh sixe pence that I had a wensday last. 1590― Mids. N. iv. ii. 22 Sixpence a day for playing Piramus. 1724Swift Drapier's Lett. iii. Wks. 1755 V. ii. 50 We have many sorts of small silver coins,..such as the French three-pences, four-pence half-pennies, and eight-pence farthings, the Scotch five-pences and ten-pences, besides their twenty-pences and three and four-pences. 1726–31Tindal Rapin's Hist. Eng. (1743) II. xvii. 157 Six-pences, Two-pences, Pence, and Half-pence. 1837Penny Cycl. VII. 329/2 From Egbert's time, with very few exceptions, the series of English pennies is complete. Ibid., Pence, halfpence, and farthings are extant of John, all struck in Ireland. 1865Reader No. 148. 493/2 A large hoard of short-cross pennies. 1866Crump Banking x. 226 Coinage of England: Athelstan a.d. 925 to Henry II a.d. 1189, silver pennies only.
2. a. Rendering L. denarius (see denarius); also occasionally argenteus (‘piece of silver’), and nummus (= nummus sestertius, sesterce). Chiefly, now only, in Biblical use and allusions thereto.
c950Lindisf. Gosp. Mark xii. 15 Brenges me peniᵹ [L. denarium] þætte ic ᵹesii. c975Rushw. Gosp. John vi. 7 Tu hund peninga [L. ducentorum denariorum] to hlafum ne ᵹinyhtsumað him. c1000Ags. Gosp. Luke x. 35 And brohte oðrum dæᵹe tweᵹen peneᵹas [L. duos denarios, Wyclif twey pens, v.r. pans]. c1275Passion of our Lord 119 in O.E. Misc. 40 If ich so ispede Þat ich bitraye ihesu, hwat schal beon my mede? Þrytty panewes, hi seyden. c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 32 He toke two pens, and ȝaf hem to þe hosteler. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 273 Þey schulde euery ȝere offre foure pans [L. quatuor nummos] to þe chirche work of Seynt Denys. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xi. 42 Þai salde Criste for xxx. penys. 1535Coverdale Jer. xxxii. 9 Seuen sycles and ten syluer pens [L. decem argenteos]. 1638Junius Paint. Ancients 303 Antonius the Triumvir his pennies were mixed with iron. 1646Bp. Hall Balm of Gil. (1650) 134 Even the eleventh houre carried the peny as well as the first. 1720Ozell Vertot's Rom. Rep. I. vii. 424 note, The Penny of Gold among the Romans was worth a Thousand Sesterces. 1796H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) III. 480, I do not speak of the penny paid to Cesar by St. Peter. 1881N. T. (R.V.) Luke xx. 24 Shew me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it? And they said, Cæsar's.
b. Sometimes applied to the French denier or 10 centime piece; also, to the now obsolete coin of Jersey of that value (Jersey penny), superseded in 1877 by a coin = 1/12 shilling. Formerly also used to render the name of the Dutch penning, the German pfennig, the Low German pennig, and other foreign coins corresponding in name. In U.S. and Canad. colloq., a cent.
1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v., The French penny, or denier, is of two kinds; the Paris penny, called denier Parisis; and the penny of Tours, denier Tournois... The Dutch penny, called pennink, is a real money, worth about one fifth more than the French penny Tournois... At Hambourg, Nuremberg, &c. the penny or pfennig of account, is put equal to the French penny Tournois. 1831Constellation 12 Mar. 133/4 He meant cents, but they call em pennies in New York. 1862Ansted Channel Isl. iv. App. A (ed. 2) 561 Thirteen Jersey pence are equivalent to an English shilling. 1889Farmer Dict. Amer., Penny, a cent, and thus about half the value of an English penny. 1898G. B. Rawlings Brit. Coinage 194 No coins were struck for Jersey till 1841,..the English shilling at that time being valued in Jersey at thirteen pence... The penny is as follows. 1902‘R. Connor’ Glengarry School Days 166 ‘Six pennies and two dimes’, was Hughie's disconsolate reply. 1925E. Glasgow Barren Ground xi. 303 The price had seemed extravagant, for selling directly to her customer she had asked thirty cents a pound, while butter in Pedlar's store was never higher than ninepence in summer and a shilling in winter, measured in the old English terms which were still commonly used in Queen Elizabeth County. 1966New Statesman 16 Dec. 896/3 Florin..is only used, like the American ‘penny’, to describe the actual lump of metal. 1971Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 28 Dec. 7/4 Persons posting first class letters will be nicked another penny starting Jan. 1. 1974H. McCloy Minotaur Country (1975) xvi. 186 You recall the penny that was found..? And the dimes found..after the fire?
II. From the fact that the (silver) penny was for many hundred years the chief or only coin in circulation, the name became to a great extent synonymous with ‘coin’, ‘piece’, or ‘unit of money’, whence the following uses:
3. = A coin: applied with a defining or descriptive adjunct to various coins of the British Isles, of distinct origin from the ordinary penny. Now Hist.
penny of twopence, a silver coin of the value of twopence, a half-groat; gold penny, a gold coin of the value of 20 shillings issued in 1257.
1483Cath. Angl. 274/1 A Peny of twa Pens (A. Pennys), didragma. 1523Act 14 & 15 Hen. VIII, c. 12 As many halfe grotes called pens of two pens. 1523Fitzherb. Husb. §54 Peny grasse..hath a leafe as brode as a peny of two pens, and neuer beareth floure. 1565in Keith Hist. Scot. (1754) App. 118 That thair be cunȝeit ane Penny of Silvir callit the Mary Ryall,..of Weicht ane Unce Troce-weicht. 1578Reg. Privy Council Scot. III. 31 Thair salbe ane penny or pece of gold prentit and cunyeit of twentie ane carret fine. 1700Tyrrell Hist. Eng. II. (975) This Year [1257], according to the MS. Chronicle of the city of London, the King Coined a Penny of Pure Gold of the Weight of Two Sterlings, and commanded that it should go for Twenty Shillings. 1895W. A. Shaw Hist. Currency i. 4 Five years later (1257) Henry III of England imitated the florin in his gold pennies.
4. a. Used as a general or vague word for a piece of money; hence, a sum of money, money.
Now chiefly in phr. a pretty penny: see 9 e.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 64, & alle þat he mot gete, he robbed & reft, Peny no penyworth, no þing he no left. 1340Ayenb. 23 Ydeleblisse..Þet is þe dyeules peni, huermide he bayþ alle þe uayre pane-worþes ine þe markatte of þise wordle. a1375Lay Folks Mass Bk. App. iv. 514 Go vp to him with ful good-wille, And þi peny, him profre. c1384Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 377 Þei done þis to wynne þo penye. c1386Chaucer Reeve's T. 199 They hym bisoght Of herberwe and of ese as for hir peny. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. ii. xx. 57 b, They may..there be lodged..without paying of any pennie. 1623Cockeram Eng. Dict. iii. s.v. Maximilean, The Emperour gaue him a small penny. 1649in J. Harrington Def. Rights Univ. Oxford (1690) 26 They living wholy upon the penny, buying all commodities but having nothing to sell. 1657Heylin Undeceiv. People 20 The Minister hath neither corn nor hay, nor any provision for expence of houshould, but what he buyeth by the penny. 1764H. Walpole Let. G. Montagu 24 Dec., I shall put your letter to Rheims into the foreign post with a proper penny. 1792Burns ‘What can a young lassie’ i, Bad luck on the pennie that tempted my minnie To sell her poor Jenny for siller an' lan'! 1822Lockhart A. Blair 139 A braw little penny to her tocher.
b. In pl. = money: orig. as consisting ordinarily of (silver) pennies; in later use, often depreciative, ‘small money’, ‘coppers’, ‘small earnings’.
c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 26/8 To þe apostles he wende anon and to heore fet þe panes caste. a1300Cursor M. 5507 Wit þair penis boght was he. c1470Henry Wallace viii. 692 Pryce off pennys may mak ws no ramed. 1611Cotgr. s.v. Sien, Who looseth his pence forgoeth his sence. 1641Milton Ch. Govt. ii. Wks. 1851 III. 139 Dispensers of treasure..without price to them that have no pence. 1653Urquhart Rabelais i. xlv. 203 He..gave unto each of them a horse..together with some pence to live by. 1883G. B. Goode Fish. Indust. 6 (Fish. Exhib. Publ.), Their descendants..are to-day hauling pence up out of the water faster than their forefathers ever learned to do.
†c. (Singular.) With ordinal numeral, expressing an aliquot part of a sum of money, as the fifth penny, i.e. every fifth penny in any number of pennies; = one-fifth of the whole amount.
1038Charter of Harold Haranfot in Kemble Cod. Dipl. IV. 57 [He] bæd hine fultumes to þam hirode embe þone þriddan peniᵹ. c1300Song Husbandm. 8 in Pol. Songs (Camden) 149 Ever the furthe peni mot to the kynge. 1581Reg. Privy Council Scot. III. 427 All and haill the erldome of Gowry, with the teind penny of all wardis. 1585Ibid. 743 The first fructis and fyft penny of the same beneficeis. a1618Raleigh Prerog. Parl. (1628) 8 In the 14. yeare he [Henry III] had the 15. penny of all goods given him vpon condition to confirme the great Charter. c1645Howell Lett. i. xli, None can hire or build a House, but he must pay the tenth penny. 1681Lond. Gaz. No. 1654/2 The Nations of this City have declared their willingness to give twice the 20th penny, which..will raise a Million and a halfe. 1776Adam Smith W.N. i. ix. (1869) I. 95 In 1720 interest was reduced from the twentieth to the fiftieth penny, or from five to two per cent. 1844G. Dodd Textile Manuf. v. 168 Remunerated by what was termed ‘the fourth penny’, that is, each journeyman received as his wages..the fourth part of the gross sum for which such cloth was sold.
†d. first penny = prime cost, cost price. In quot. 1674, perh. = first amount, amount starting a contribution, testimonial, etc.; a handsel. Obs.
1586A. Day Eng. Secretary ii. (1625) 63 Seuen Buts of Sack, which cost the first pennie seuenteen Duckats the But. 1620Capt. Smith New Eng. Trials (Arb.) 242 Her fraght, which she sold at the first penny for 2100 pounds. c1645Howell Lett. (1650) II. 48 Her cargazon of broad cloth was worth the first peny neer upon 30000l. 1674Marvell Corr. Wks. 1872–5 II. 424 E. of Pembroke marryed to Madame Qerronal's [sic] sister. The King gives 1000 first peny.
e. The particular sum of money or amount of some tax, impost, or customary payment. With defining adjunct, as borchel-penny, cock-p., common penny, earnest-p., fire p., gauge-p., God's-p., hanse-penny, homage-p., Peter's-penny (-pence), Rome-p., scot-p., teind-p., tithing-p., ward-p., etc. See these.
c1194in Reg. of Wetherhal (1897) 30 Sint quiete de..averpeni et de blodwita..et de hundredpeni et de thethingepeni. 1444Rolls of Parlt. V. 117/1 Þat the peny which is called the Gauge peny, be not paied to the Gaugeour. 1461Ibid. 476/1 A summe of money claymed at two law⁓dayes in the yere, called Tithyng peny, otherwise Tottyng⁓peny. 1479–81Rec. St. Mary at Hill 102 The ernyst penys and potacions at diuerse tymes amonge the workemen. 1508–[see earnest-penny]. 1562Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 222 Without payment of any compositioun or teind penny. 1845S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. I. 79 At Regensburg, in the year 1471—the allied powers..attempted to impose a sort of property tax on the whole empire, called the Common Penny. Ibid. 213 The scheme of a Common Penny was now resumed. 1890Gross Gild Merch. I. 31 There were dues at Andover called ‘scot-pennies’, ‘hanse-pennies’, and ‘sige-pennies’. 1904Westm. Gaz. 16 Mar. 12/1 The church was built in the old feudal days when the Bourchiers..held estate in Chingford, and..in 1220 an agreement was entered into between the Abbot of Waltham and the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's by which the latter were exempted from the payment of ‘Borchel Peny’ and ‘Ward Peny’.
5. As the type of a coin of small value, or of a small amount of money. Often in contrast with pound (see also 9 f, h); with a negative, as not a penny = not the least amount, no money at all; so never a penny, not worth a penny.
a1200[see A. 1 β]. a1366Chaucer Rom. Rose 451 Povert al aloon, That not a peny hadde in wolde. 1414Brampton Penit. Ps. 46 There schal no man, for peny ne pounde, Have ‘Ne reminiscaris, Domine?’ 1457Paston Lett. I. 414 A peny yn seson spent wille safe a pounde. 1530in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford 74 Clare had never peny for hyt. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 589 Hauing onely the name and style of the same, without any peny profite, or foote of possession. 1570T. Wilson Demosthenes 97 margin, It is the well spent penny that saveth the pound. 1655W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. verse 12. v. §3 (1669) 85/1 Wilt thou stand with God for a day or two, huckle with him for a penny? 1782F. Burney Cecilia v. i, Never knew a man worth a penny with such a coat as that on. 1840Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. i. Jackd. Rheims vi, Never was heard such a terrible curse! But..Nobody seem'd one penny the worse!
III. Transferred uses: chiefly elliptical.
†6. = pennyweight. Obs.
c1000Sax. Leechd. II. 298 Pund eles ᵹewihð .xii. peneᵹum læsse þonne pund wætres. & pund ealoð ᵹewihð .vi. peneᵹum mare þonne pund wætres. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. cxxxi. (1495) nn iij/2 Dragma is the eyghte parte of Vncia and weyeth thre Pans of syluer. Scrupulus..is acountyd for ten Pans. 1579Reg. Privy Council Scot. III. 189 Tuicheing the reductioun of our Soverane Lordis cunyie to ellevin penny fyne. 1590Recorde, etc. Gr. Artes (1640) 127 Whereas..the weight is called by the name of a penny, it is not ment a penny of silver money, but a penny of Gold-smiths weight, which containeth 24 Barly Corn.
†7. The amount bought for a penny, a pennyworth. Obs.
1564Child-Marriages 208 All iij went to Richard Barkers house, and dronke, eithe[r] of them a peny. 1591Spenser M. Hubberd 523 Whereas thou maist compound a better penie.
8. = pennyland, q.v.
IV.
9. Phrases and Proverbs.
a. a penny for your thoughts: I would give something to know what you are thinking about (addressed to one in a ‘brown study’). So penny for them ('em); also ellipt. as penny. † b. a penny in the forehead: in allusion to a playful nursery joke, in which a cold coin is pressed on the forehead so as to be felt as if still there after its removal: see Notes and Q. 9th s. VIII. 189. Obs. c. a penny saved is a penny gained (got, earned). d. a penny soul never came to twopence. e. a pretty (fine, etc.) penny: a considerable sum (in the way of gain or cost). f. in for a penny, in for a pound: having entered upon a matter one must carry it through whatever it involves. † g. no penny, no paternoster: a saying referring to priests insisting on being paid as a condition of performing services; hence = nothing for nothing; if you want a thing you must pay for it. So no paternoster, no penny = no work, no pay. penny nor paternoster (quot. 1566), neither pay nor prayers; neither love nor money. Obs. h. take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves. † i. to think one's penny (good) silver: to have a good opinion of oneself. Obs. j. † to make penny of, to turn into money, to sell (obs.); to make a (good, etc.) penny of, to make profit by (?obs.). (See also e.) † k. to turn (wind) the (a) penny: to employ one's money profitably; or, to gain money. Obs. exc. in to turn an honest penny (see honest a. 4 b). l. pennies from heaven: money acquired without effort or risk; also sing., a windfall, a godsend. m. to spend a penny: to visit a lavatory, to urinate (from the former price of admission to public lavatories). n. the penny has dropped: a situation or statement has belatedly been comprehended; one has reacted belatedly. (With allusion to the mechanism of a penny-in-the-slot machine). o. two (also ten) a penny: commonplace, easily obtainable, occurring frequently. See also penny-wise.
a.1546J. Heywood Prov. ii. iv. (1867) 50 Wherwith in a great musyng he was brought. Fréend (quoth the good man) a peny for your thought. 1738Swift Pol. Conversat. 8 Neverout. Come: a Penny for your thoughts. Miss. It is not worth a farthing: for I was thinking of you. 1765Bickerstaff Maid of Mill i. viii. 17 My lord, a penny for your thoughts. 1900H. G. Wells Love & Mr. Lewisham xxv. 242 ‘Penny,’ she said after an interval. Lewisham started and looked up. ‘Eh?’ 1914C. Mackenzie Sinister St. II. iv. iii. 895 ‘You're very silent, kiddie,’ she said. ‘I'll give you a penny for them.’ 1921N. Kent Quest M. Harland ii. iv. 169 ‘Penny for 'em, old man,’ said Dickie presently, after Michael had eaten in silence for nearly five minutes. ‘My thoughts?’ Michael started and laughed. 1959J. Braine Vodi xiv. 190 Harry's voice broke into her thoughts. ‘Penny for 'em, old girl.’ 1965L. Meynell Double Fault ii. v. 175 ‘Penny,’ Lucian said. She laughed... ‘Far too rich and rare for a penny to buy them.’ 1973J. Thomson Death Cap x. 142 Finch was sitting looking thoughtfully at the report... ‘Penny for them?’ suggested the Sergeant.
b.1658–9Burton's Diary 9 Mar. (1828) IV. 106, I am not bound always to look you in the face like children, to see if you have a penny in your forehead. a1734North Exam. ii. v. §15 (1740) 324 We may hope better of their Abilities than to be wheedled as Children with a Penny in the Forehead.
c.1695Ravenscroft Canterbury Guests ii. iv, This I did to prevent expences, for..A penny sav'd, is a penny got. 1811Byron Hints fr. Hor. 516 A penny saved, my lad, 's a penny got. 1838Chamb. Edin. Jrnl. 45 A penny saved is a penny gained. 1899Pall Mall Mag. Sept. 107 A penny saved is a penny earned.
d.1844Chamb. Jrnl. II. 225 A penny soul never came to twopence. 1859Smiles Self-Help ix. (1860) 235 Narrow⁓mindedness in living and in dealing..leads to failure. The penny soul never came to twopence.
e.1768J. Byron Narr. Patagonia (ed. 2) 209 By which the soldiers made a pretty penny. 1782F. Burney Cecilia ix. iv, If a man makes a fair penny..he has as much title to enjoy his pleasure as the Chief Justice. 1796H. Glasse Cookery vii. 131 By that time the..ingredients are reckoned, the partridges will come to a fine penny. 1885B. Harte Maruja i, Then the captain might still make a pretty penny on Amita. 1889Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 12 Jan., Uncle Sam's navy is costing him a pretty penny these days.
f.1695Ravenscroft Canterbury Guests v. i, Well than, O'er shooes, o'er boots. And In for a Penny, in for a Pound. 1823Byron To Kinnaird 23 Dec. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop lxvi, Being in for a penny, I am ready, as the saying is, to be in for a pound. c1882W. S. Gilbert Iolanthe ii. 33 In for a penny, in for a pound—It's love that makes the world go round! 1906L. Strachey in Lit. Ess. (1948) 142 The emendator is on an inclined plane which leads him inevitably from readjustments of punctuation to corrections of grammar, and from corrections of grammar to alterations of rhythm; if he is in for a penny, he is in for a pound. 1976‘J. Fraser’ Who steals my Name? xii. 149 He seemed to be having some kind of inner conflict which resolved it⁓self. ‘All right,’ he said, ‘in for a penny in for a pound!’ 1977Transatlantic Rev. lx. 189 The cabbie steamed up to Notting Hill Gate with an In for a penny, In for a pound expression on his face.
g.1546Suppl. Commons (1871) 87 Theyr couetouse is growne into this prouerbe, ‘No peny, no pater noster’. 1566Gascoigne Supposes i. i, Pitie nor pencion, peny nor pater noster shoulde euer haue made Nurse once to open hir mouth in the cause. 1640Bastwick Lord Bps. vi. E iv b, No penny, no Pater noster; they looke more to their tithes, then to their taske. 1707Hickeringill Priest-cr. ii. ii. 22 Once was—No Pater Noster, No Penny; now—No Sermons, not a Penny, not a Farthing.
h.a1724Lowndes in Chesterfield Lett. 5 Feb. an. 1750 [Old Mr. Lowndes, the famous Secretary of the Treasury..used to say] ‘take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves’. 1854R. S. Surtees Handley Cross xiii, ‘A real out-and-out workin' chap, that will..look sharp ater the pence, without leavin' the pounds to take care of themselves’.
i.1579Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 13/2 Suche as..thought their penie good siluer. 1594Greene & Lodge Looking Glasse Lodge's Wks. (Hunter. Cl.) 17 Tho she say that she is fairest, I think my pennie siluer by her leaue. 1603Breton Packet Mad Lett. liv. (1879) 20/1 There are more Batchelors than Roger, and my penny is as good siluer as yours.
j.1512in Pitcairn Crim. Trials I. 76* To mak penny of þair landis and gudis. 15..Aberdeen Regr. (Jam.), The prouest, &c., chargit the officiaris to mak penny of the claith prisit. 1726Berkeley Let. to T. Prior 1 Dec., Wks. 1871 IV. 139, I gave him old clothes, which he made a penny of. 1782F. Burney Cecilia v. viii, Warrant Master Harrel's made a good penny of you.
k.1546J. Heywood Prov. ii. viii. (1867) 75 Towne ware was your ware, to tourne the peny. c1645Howell Lett. (1754) 76 There is no State that winds the Penny more nimbly, and makes quicker Returns. 1712Addison Spect. No. 452 ⁋4 A Projector, who is willing to turn a Penny by this remarkable Curiosity of his Countrymen. 1887E. E. Money Dutch Maiden (1888) 5 Lucas had been sent across the seas to turn the ‘honest penny’ and pick up some gold.
l.1936J. Burke (song-title) Pennies from heaven. 1965J. D. MacDonald Bright Orange for Shroud xvi. 191 ‘Sweetie,’ I said, ‘you are a penny from heaven.’ 1971P. Dickinson Sleep & his Brother v. 117 Hard money is what your hospital pays you... Soft money is pennies from heaven, some dirty big company deciding to earn a bit of tax relief by financing medical research. 1972‘W. Haggard’ Protectors xiii. 154 He hadn't planned it that way... But when the pennies from heaven fell down he'd seize them.
m.1945H. Lewis Strange Story iv. 27 ‘Us girls,’ she said, ‘are going to spend a penny!’ 1955J. Cannan Long Shadows iii. 59, I wasn't sure that Trudy [a dog] had spent her penny. Ibid. vii. 127 We'll go indoors and pay for tea and spend a penny. 1960M. Cecil Something in Common xxii. 239 It's tricky about the bathroom, but it's amazing how one can train oneself to spend a minimum of pennies. 1973People's Jrnl. (Inverness & Northern Counties ed.) 28 July 10/1 Anyone on the Islands..after that time who wants to ‘spend a penny’ must make a 10-minute walk..to the public toilets.
n. [1942N. Balchin Darkness falls from Air iv. 70 The penny seems to have stuck in the machine that time. The proper answer to that is ‘I'm flattered.’] 1951― Way through Wood xv. 214, I sat and thought for a moment and then the penny dropped. 1959Sunday Express 13 Dec. 1/4, I had seen Vivienne before, but the penny didn't drop until I met her that night. 1961S. Chaplin Day of Sardine viii. 174 It took a second or two for the penny to drop. I gave myself a shake and made over to the maybe Old Man. 1973Times 1 Dec. 14 The penny had begun to drop even before the present fuel crisis.
o.1960Times 11 Jan. 17/1 Penalties were two a penny at Upper Park on Saturday. 1961New Eng. Bible Matt. x. 29 Are not sparrows two a penny? 1966Listener 27 Oct. 612/3 He found in India that subalterns were two a penny and invited nowhere. 1973Nature 20 Apr. 492/2 Recommendations on the so-called energy crisis are by now two a penny. 1973A. Mann Tiara iv. 34 Hunches are two a penny in this business. 1973C. L. Barnhart et al. Dict. New Eng. 355/2 Ten a penny is also used in England.
V.
10. With prefixed numerals, forming adjectives of price or value: see fivepenny, fourpenny, sixpenny, etc. Applied to nails, such adjectives denote the original price (in 15th c.) per hundred; as fivepenny nail, a nail which cost 5d. a hundred, tenpenny nail, a nail costing 10d. a hundred. (These names persisted after the prices fell, as they began to do in some places before 1500, and they were eventually used to designate sizes of nails.)
1426–7Rec. St. Mary at Hill (E.E.T.S.) 67 Also for iijc x peny nayl to þe vyse, ij s vj d. Also for iiijc vj peny nayl, ijs. 1427–8Ibid. 69 Also for ijc x peny nayl to þe same werk, xx d. Also for iiijc vj peny nayl..ij s. Also for a c. of ij peny nayl, ij d. 1484Ibid. 120 Item, for ij c di. iiij penye nayle, x d. Item, for di. c v d nayle, ij d ob. Item, for di. a c iij penye nayle, j d ob. 1494–5Ibid. 208, Item, iij c vj d naile, xv d. Ibid. 210 Item, iij c di. v. peny Naile, xiiij d. 1481Nottingham Rec. II. 320 Unum centum et dimidium de threpeny nayl', ad valentiam iiij d.; et de dimidio centum de forpeny nayl', ad valentiam de ij d. c1850Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 135 Nails of sorts are, 4, 6, 8, 10, 24, 30, and 40-penny nails, all of different lengths.
11. attrib. or as adj.
a. Of the price or value of a penny, costing a penny, as penny arcade, penny awful, penny bazaar, penny brick [brick n.1 3], penny bun, penny commons [commons 3 b], penny cord, penny dreadful [dreadful C] (also with hyphen, attrib.), penny hen, penny horrible [horrible B], penny ice (also comb.), penny knife, penny loaf, penny magazine, penny mass, penny newspaper, penny novel, penny novelette, penny paper, penny pie, penny press, penny roll, penny stamp, penny steamboat, penny toy, penny whistle, etc.; for the use of or admission to which the charge is a penny, as penny boat, penny bus, penny club, penny concert, penny gaff (gaff n.4), penny gallery, penny lecture, penny lodging penny reading, penny show, penny steamer, penny tram, etc.; (of a game) at which the stake is a penny, as penny-nap, penny-ombre; (of a person) that sells something or does some work for a penny or at a cheap rate; hence, engaged in mean or inferior work; as penny-barber, penny foot-post, penny poet, penny wit. Here penny (though sometimes hyphened) may be considered as an adj.: cf. penny loaf with twopenny or sixpenny loaf.
b. Of or pertaining to a penny, as penny-breadth, † penny-brede (brede n.2).
1908C. E. Griffin Four Years in Europe ix. 87 The numerous *penny arcades and moving picture shows..were another new wrinkle in American showmanship. 1961Getlein & Gardiner Movies, Morals, & Art i. iv. 48 The penny arcade..can still be found in such urban areas as Times Square.
1889E. Dowson Let. 15 Mar. (1967) 49 It is very bad, very long, & distinctly ‘*penny awful’ not ‘shilling shocking’.
a1704T. Brown Sat. on Fr. King Wks. 1730 I. 61, I hope thou'lt in the Friars take a shop, Turn *penny-barber there.
1897H. James Spoils of Poynton xiii. 154 An assortment of pen-wipers and ash-trays, a harvest he had gathered in from *penny bazaars. 1966Guardian 29 Aug. 4/4 The Shields tram..full of early homecomers. They got off at the Penny Bazaar. 1976Times 8 Nov. 14/5 If the Church wants..the responsibility for the appointment of its chief pastors it must do much better than this. We are in danger of reducing a great institution to the level of a penny bazaar.
1855Thackeray Newcomes xxxvi, We came by the steamer, and I prefer the *péniboat. 1862Routledge's Pop. Guide Lond. 44 The Penny boats go to and from London Bridge and Hungerford..about every five minutes.
c1430Two Cookery-bks. i. 7 Kyt it in smale pecys of the *peny brede. 1535Lyndesay Satyre 3576 The Saviour of men, In all this warld hes nocht ane penny braid Quhairon he may repois his heavinlie head. a1550Wardr. Acc. Hen. VIII in Archæol. IX. 250 Syxe pecis of Venysse reabande, pennye bredith of div'se colours. 1649G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. V, xvi, One Day writes an Age; Though a Good hand, pussle an Eye to Read't A Pater-Noster, in a Penny Breadth.
1735*Penny brick [see brick n.1 3]. 1806A. Hunter Culina (ed. 3) 152 Then pour in beef gravy with the soft part of a penny brick.
1824E. Weeton Jrnl. 21 July (1969) II. 309 Having had no dinner..but some curds and one or two *penny buns. 1862Mrs. Sewell Patience Hart xxx. 227, I went into a baker's shop and bought a penny bun.
1630B. Jonson New Inn iv. i, Keep they their *penny club still? 1844C. M. Yonge Abbeychurch xiii. 278 Elizabeth..went to the school to receive the penny-club money.
a1613Overbury Charact., Meere Fellow Wks. (1856) 105 At meales, he sits in as great state over his *penny-commons, as ever Vitellius did at his greatest banquet.
1599Shakes. Hen. V, iii. vi. 50 Let not Bardolphs vitall thred bee cut With edge of *Penny-Cord, and vile reproach.
1873Slang Dict., *Penny dreadfuls,..those penny publications which depend more upon sensationalism than upon merit, artistic or literary, for success. 1884World 20 Aug. 9/2 The wicked noblemen of the transpontine melodrama or of penny dreadfuls. 1906M. Corelli Treasure of Heaven 55 The proper way for him to behave at this juncture..would be that he should take her tenderly in his arms and murmur, after the penny-dreadful style of elderly hero, ‘My darling’. 1925T. Dreiser Amer. Trag. II. iii. xix. 222 By him sold to a penny-dreadful publisher of Binghamton. 1941V. Nabokov Real Life S. Knight x. 91 He did not mind in the least ‘penny dreadfuls’ because he wasn't concerned with ordinary morals. 1963Times 18 Feb. 5/3 He was perfectly happy with a ‘penny dreadful’, a warm fire, a friendly dog, and a good meal inside him.
a1625Fletcher Chances v. ii, A *penny foot-post Compell'd with cross and pile to run of errands.
1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 40/1 There are shops which have been turned into a kind of temporary theatre (admission one penny)... These places are called by the costers ‘*Penny Gaffs’. 1866Daily Tel. 16 Oct. 2/4 She wished to go into the penny gaff a second time, and said she had no money.
1337–8Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 33 In vxx. vij. *peny⁓hennys emp...viijs. xj d.
1899F. H. Dood in Daily News 13 June 8/5 ‘*Penny horribles’ always have a public, though it is questionable if dime novels are now so prominent as they once were.
1872B. Jerrold London xv. 127 We have found the *penny ice-man doing a brisk trade. Ibid., The penny ice has proved too strong for the ancient ginger-beer bottle. 1896G. B. Shaw Our Theatres in Nineties (1932) II. 133 Some appalling tenor from I know not what limbo of street-piano padrones, penny-icemen, and broken choristers. 1914― Fanny's First Play 169 You should be eating penny ices and enjoying yourself.
1852Eliza Cook's Jrnl. 22 May 57/2 The power of the Penny has only been discovered of late years. The Penny Magazine, and the Penny Cyclopædia, fairly inaugurated the discovery. *Penny Lectures are the necessary corollary from it; and before long the Penny News⁓paper may fairly complete it.
1418Maldon, Essex, Court-Rolls (Bundle 11, no. 3), Panis frumenti..vocat. *penylof. 1594Blundevil Exerc. i. x. (1636) 31 If a penny-loafe must weigh two pound, Wheat being at three shilling a bushell. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop xlv, A penny loaf was all they had had that day.
1779–81Johnson L.P., Swift Wks. III. 373 At night he would go to a *penny lodging, where he purchased clean sheets for sixpence.
1835Dickens Sk. Boz (1837) 2nd Ser. 145 When *penny magazines shall have superseded penny yards of song. 1852Penny magazine [see penny lecture s.v. penny 11].
1591Spenser M. Hubberd 452 Their *penie masses and their complynes meete.
1889J. K. Jerome Three Men in Boat xix. 306 We played *penny nap after supper. 1950Hoyle's Games Modernized (ed. 20) i. 138 If a man calls three at ‘penny Nap’, he receives 3d.
1852*Penny Newspaper [see penny lecture above]. 1862Sat. Rev. 8 Feb. 154 A halfpenny or penny newspaper.
1861Punch 5 Jan. 3/1 A weakness for..reading *penny novels.
1896G. B. Shaw Our Theatres in Nineties (1932) II. 213 You would never dream of asking why Morris did not read *penny novelettes, or hang his rooms with Christmas-number chromolithographs.
1710Swift Let. to Sterne 26 Sept., Looking over while you lost a crown at *penny-ombre.
1834Tait's Mag. I. 423/1 A set of idle *penny-page men.
1711Addison Spect. No. 124 ⁋2 Many a bulky Author would make his Appearance in a *Penny-Paper.
1600Kemp Nine Daies Wond. D iij b, A *penny Poet; whose first making was the miserable stolne story of Macdoel, or Macdobeth, or Macsomewhat. 1804–6Syd. Smith Mor. Philos. (1850) 100 That race of penny poets who lived in the reigns of Cosmo and Lorenzo di Medici.
1840Picayune (New Orleans) 15 Sept. 2/2 The six-penny journals have latterly grown wise enough to drop the naughty habit in which they used to indulge of swearing at the *penny press. 1843North Amer. Rev. Jan. 227 They [sc. Dickens's American Notes] have been scattered all over the country by the penny press. 1860Gladstone Diary 3 Oct. in Morley Life II. 184 Some of the penny press which has now acquired an enormous expansion go great lengths in my favour. 1932T. S. Eliot Sel. Essays vi. 341 Those sections about which readers of the penny press are most ready to excite themselves.
1858Brit. Q. Rev. LVI. 341 This lecture is profusely illustrated, as the *penny publishers say, with cuts.
1859Suffolk Chron. 13 Sept. (heading), *Penny Readings for the Working Classes. 1861C. Sulley (title) Penny Readings in Ipswich and Elsewhere. 1871F. Kilvert Diary 3 Feb. (1938) I. 301 This evening we had our 4th Penny Reading. The room was fuller than ever. 1883P. E. Gibbons in Harper's Mag. Apr. 661/1 Penny readings are entertainments at which each who enters pays a penny. 1907A. Huxley Let. 17 Nov. (1969) 26 Mr. Taylor wants to know for his penny reading. 1969Telegraph (Brisbane) 25 Mar. 8/4 The provisional school was used for monthly ‘penny readings’..at that period. 1976Trans. Yorks. Dial. Soc. lxxvi. 33 Traditions which must go back to ‘Sir Gawain’ and even ‘Beowulf’ when the ‘oral literature’ of 600 A.D. and Victorian ‘Penny Readings’ may seem to be not all that far apart.
1836–48B. D. Walsh Aristoph., Knights i. iii, I will hack you like a *penny roll.
1601Chester Love's Mart. etc. (1878) 179 The cause of all our monstrous *penny-showes.
1839Rowland Hill Memorandum 13th June, The stamp-office would charge the nominal value..(a penny a sheet for *penny stamps, twopence a sheet for twopenny stamps, etc). 1881Stamp Collector's Ann. 38 (Postage stamp Savings Bank) Slips of paper..with spaces below marked out for affixing twelve penny stamps.
1859G. A. Sala Twice round Clock 11 The river glideth in peace, undisturbed by *penny steamboats.
1862A. J. Munby Diary 7 May in D. Hudson Munby (1972) 121 His enjoyment of the Thames from the deck of a *penny steamer. 1881H. James Portr. Lady xv, They..went on a penny-steamer to the Tower. 1933Radio Times 14 Apr. 72/3 The ‘penny-steamers’, those cheerful launches that trail along behind the [Boat Race] umpires and the B.B.C.
1905Daily Chron. 18 Dec. 4/5 The first gutter *penny-toy merchant. 1955Times 11 May 12/4 Penny toys (how many of them could be bought for that coin today?).
1818Scott Rob Roy x, Pipes! they look more like *penny-whistles. 1879Stainer Music of Bible 94 Comparing a penny whistle with a common bandsman's fife. 1931N. Douglas London Street Games (ed. 2) 29, I went down the lane to buy a penny whistle, A copper came by and pinch my penny whistle. 1967W. Soyinka Kongi's Harvest 64 Penny whistles blow to the tune of the Carpenter's Song. 1978W. Hjortsberg Falling Angel (1979) vi. 71 Some⁓one played a pennywhistle. Shrill, piping notes.
1619H. Hutton Follies Anat. (Percy Soc.) 7 Times puny *penny-wits I loathing hate.
12. Comb.
a. Objective and obj. gen. as penny-catching, penny-cautious, penny-conscious, penny-grubbing, penny picking, penny pinching adjs., penny-collector.
b. similative, etc., as penny-brown, penny-grey, penny-sized adjs.c. Special Combs.: † penny-ale, ale sold at a penny a gallon, thin ale (obs.); penny ante U.S., the game of poker when the ante is fixed at one penny or a similarly insignificant stake; also attrib. or as adj., contemptible, trivial; penny-bank, a savings bank at which a sum as low as a penny may be deposited; † penny-bean, ? a kind of bean with a flat round seed (obs.); penny-bird, local Irish name for the Little Grebe (also called drink-a-penny); penny black, (a specimen of) the first one-penny postage stamp issued in the United Kingdom, on 6 May 1840; also fig.; penny-boy slang (see quot. 1902); (in quot. 1914, a term of mild contempt); † penny-bred (-brede, -breyde), ? a baker's moulding-board for penny-loaves (see bred n.); penny bridal = penny wedding; penny-cress, the plant Thlaspi arvense, or some other cruciferous plant with flat round pods; penny-daisy, prob. = ox-eye daisy (ox-eye 3 b); † penny-dale, -deal, -dole [see dale2, deal n.2, dole n.1], the dealing or distribution of a penny to each of a number of persons; in phr. by penny-d.: hence as adv. at the rate of a penny each; penny-dog, (a) a kind of dogfish, also called miller's dog or tope; (b) Sc. and north. dial. ‘a dog that constantly follows his master’ (Jam.); a dog of an inferior breed; † penny-earth1 [ME. penierþe], a villainage service of ploughing, for which one penny was paid by the lord (obs.); penny-earth2, local name of the Fuller's Earth of the Oolitic group of strata, which abounds with the round shells of Ostrea; † penny-farm (-ferme), a money rent, instead of services; penny-fee Sc., a payment of a penny; ‘wages paid in money’ (Jam.); penny-fish, the John Dory (see quot.); † penny-flower, the plant ‘Honesty’ (Lunaria biennis), from its flat round pods (obs.); † penny-full a., (of the moon) round like a penny, ‘full’ (obs.); † penny-gavel [gavel n.1]: see quot. 1872; † penny-grave, a local manorial collector of money payments and dues; penny-in-the-slot a. [from the direction ‘Put a penny in the slot’], (of machines and mechanical devices for putting weighing machines into action, for automatic supply of various commodities, etc.) actuated by the fall of a penny inserted through a slot or narrow opening; also fig.; also ellipt. as n.; penny-leaf, -leaves, a name for navelwort or wall pennywort (Cotyledon Umbilicus), from its round leaves; penny loafer, pennyloafer N. Amer., a type of casual shoe with a slot in which coins can be placed; † penny-mail Sc., a small money payment in acknowledgement of feudal superiority; † pennyman, (a) an impersonation of money, also called Sir Penny; (b) see quot. 1610; † pennymeal n. and adv., by pence, a penny to each, = penny-dole; penny-motion, ? a penny puppet-show; penny number, (a) a cheap periodical; (b) pl. insignificant quantities (colloq.); penny packet, (a) = penny steamer s.v. penny 11; (b) a small number of persons or things; (c) (with hyphen) attrib., contemptible, insignificant; penny pawn (see quot.); penny-peeler, an avaricious or niggardly person; ˈpenny piece, a piece of any commodity sold for a penny; ˈpenny-ˈpiece, a piece of money of the value of a penny, a penny; penny pies = penny-leaf; penny-pig Sc., an earthenware pot with a slot for collecting pence saved or received as gratuities; penny-pincher, a niggardly person; penny-pinching a. (colloq.), niggardly, parsimonious; also as vbl. n.; hence (as a back-formation) penny-pinch vb. trans. and intr.; penny-pinched adj.; penny plain a., plain and unpretentious; hence penny-plainness; † penny-pouch, a pocket or bag for coin; † penny-ˈpoundlike adv., at so much in the pound; † penny-purse, (a) a purse for pence or small coins; (b) fig. a penurious fellow, a niggard; † penny-rife a., as rife or common as pennies, very common or prevalent; † penny-room, a place (e.g. in a theatre) to which the price of admission is a penny; penny stock U.S., a common stock of value less than one dollar, and therefore highly speculative; † penny-toller (penitollere), ? an official who takes a toll of a penny; penny-ˈtrumpet, a toy trumpet costing a penny; also fig. in reference to petty boasting; so penny-ˈtrumpeter; penny wedding, a wedding at which each of the guests contributes money to the expenses of the entertainment and to the setting up of the newly-married couple; formerly customary among the poorer classes in Scotland, Wales, etc.; penny-whip, -wheep, Sc., small beer sold at a penny a bottle; † penny-white a., whitened or rendered fair with (silver) pennies, i.e. with wealth: said of a rich woman, esp. one who is not naturally beautiful (obs.). Also penny-a-line to penny-weight, q.v.
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 134 *Peni Ale and piriwhit heo pourede to-gedere For laborers and louh folk. 1544T. Phaer Regim. Lyfe (1560) B ij, To drynke onely pennye ale, or suche small drynke.
1855‘Q. K. P. Doesticks’ Doesticks, what he Says 259 Napoleon spends most of his time playing *penny ‘ante’ with the three Graces. 1935A. J. Pollock Underworld Speaks 87/1 Penny ante league, small town racketeers. 1936L. Hellman Days to Come iii. 88 We always used to play penny-ante there. 1946Negro Digest Aug. 48/1 Compared to the man Bilbo, 63-year-old John Rankin is strictly penny ante and colorless. 1976M. Machlin Pipeline v. 63 Prices were offered that made Royal American's earlier bids seem like penny ante. 1976M. Maguire Scratchproof ix. 140 I'm not a penny-ante hood.
1862Ansted Channel Isl. (1865) 557 A *Penny Bank, for savings of amounts too small to be received at the ordinary savings banks, was opened in Jersey on the 1st of January, 1862.
c1550Lloyd Treas. Health B v, The Branne of Lupines or *penny beane layd on the hearye place, wyl make the heare to fall.
1885Swainson Prov. Names Brit. Birds 216 Little Grebe..*Penny Bird (Lough Morne; Carrickfergus).
[1920E. D. Bacon Line-Engraved Postage Stamps Gt. Brit. I. 167 In 1864 an application was made to the Board of Inland Revenue for specimens of the One Penny black.] 1922A. B. Creeke in C. Nissen Plating of Penny Black Postage Stamp p. i, The cult of the ‘*Penny Black’—and no true British philatelist is so pedantic as to call the first postage stamp the ‘Black Penny’!—has..spread amongst..many collectors. 1936[see black n. 7 e]. 1972Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 12 May 62/1 These are so rare that they are referred to as the Penny Blacks of the cigarette card world. 1973R. Hill Ruling Passion ii. ii. 99 ‘What about the stamps?’.. ‘No penny blacks, I'm afraid.’ 1977Western Mail (Cardiff) 5 Mar. (Rugby Suppl.) 7/1 Still, the days when English rugby victories were as rare as the Penny Black seem over.
c1375Sc. Leg. Saints vi. (Thomas) 339 Gyfe he be nocht *penny bowne, Lat it til vs bath be commowne.
1902Farmer & Henley Slang V. 168/1 *Penny-boy (old), a boy who haunted the cattle markets on the chance of driving beasts to the slaughter⁓house. 1914Joyce Dubliners 273 He saw himself as a ludicrous figure, acting as a pennyboy for his aunts.
1390Nottingham Rec. I. 244 Unum *penybreyde ad iiijd. 1411Ibid. II. 84, j. penny⁓brede, iijd.
1624in Cramond Ann. Banff (1893) II. 23 Anent the great abuses of *pennie brydells in aill houses.
a1829Sir Hugh x. in Child Ballads (1889) III. 281/1 The nexten steed that he drew out, He was the *penny-brown.
1805H. K. White Rem. I. 154 *Penny-catching pamphlets.
1939Dylan Thomas Let. July (1966) 233 People forced..to be so *penny-cautious.
1964Economist 27 June 1481/2 The *penny-conscious President.
1713J. Petiver in Phil. Trans. XXVIII. 200 Broad-leaved yellow *Penny-Cress. Alysson luteum, Polygoni folio. 1892G. Travers Mona Maclean (1893) I. 215, I found a plant of penny-cress in a piece of waste ground.
1581J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 457 b, What shall we say of the Maunger? which is shewed at Rome in the Cathedrall Church of Mary Maior, not without *pennycrooching?
1920D. H. Lawrence Lost Girl i. 24 Big *penny-daisies grew in tufts on the brink of the yellow clay.
1495in Test. Ebor. (Surtees) IV. 26 To poore people be *penydale, iiijl. iijs. iiijd. 1521Ibid. VI. 6, I will that my executors dispose oppon my beriall daye to poore people penny deale. 1530in Weaver Wells Wills (1890) 25, xvli to be delte penydole. 1540Test. Ebor. (Surtees) VI. 108, I will that no penny doll be delte for me.
c1680[F. Sempill] Banishm. Poverty 6 in J. Watson's Coll. Sc. Poems (1706) i. 11 His wink to me hath been a Law, He haunts me like a *penny-dog. 1836Yarrell Brit. Fishes II. 390 The Tope is a common species along the southern coast, where it is known by the names of Penny Dog and Miller's Dog.
a1300Gloucester Cart. (Rolls) III. 134 Faciet unam aruram quæ vocatur *peni⁓herþe et valet tres denarios, quia recipiet de bursa domini quartum denarium. 1892Vinogradoff Villainage in Eng. 282 When the ploughing-work is paid for, it may receive the name of penyearth.
1712J. Morton Northampt. i. ii. 65 That here call'd *Penny-Earth, a Stoney Earth with a great Number of Sea-shells in it. Some of those Shells being flat and roundish,..haue occasion'd it that Name of Penny-Earth.
1356in Jarrow Compoti (Surtees) 37 Quia dimittuntur ad *penyferme per Priorem.
1781Burns ‘My Nannie, O’ vi, My riches a's my *penny-fee. 1816Scott Old Mort. viii, For the penny-fee and a' that I'll just leave it to the laird and you. 1857C. Brontë Professor II. xviii. 1 The others she had purchased with her own penny-fee.
a1682Sir T. Browne Tracts iii. 99 The fish called..by some, a Peter or *Penny-fish: which having two remarkable round spots upon either side, these are considered to be the marks of St. Peter's fingers.
1578Lyte Dodoens ii. vi. 154 The Brabanders..do call it Penninckbloemen, that is to say, *Penny floure, or mony floure. 1597Gerarde Herbal i. cxvii. 377 We cal this herb in English Pennie flower or money flower.
c1470Henryson Mor. Fab. x. (Fox & Wolf) xxiii, The nicht was licht, and *penny full the mone.
1440in Somner Gavelkind (1660) 26 Per redditum & servitium vocatum *Peny gavel, viz. reddendo annuatim eisdem Abbati & Coventui & eorum Successoribus de qualibet swillinga..decem & novem solidos & octo denarios. 1872E. W. Robertson Hist. Ess. 133 The system of penny-gavel, in accordance with which the land was measured into carucates or ploughlands, and a tenth of its estimated value paid to the overlord.
1579in Trans. E. Riding Yorks. Antiq. Soc. (1901) VIII. 12 *Pennygrave [or collector of fines and tolls]. 1741Copy Court-Roll, Manor of Burstwick, Holderness, Yorks., Ralph Burnsall, deputy penny-grave to the Lord.
1942New Statesman 11 July 25/1 The Jews of Poland, on the whole, I have found *penny-grubbing, cunning, and given to circumlocution.
1891Kipling Light that Failed xiv. 281 They've got one of them *penny-in-the-slot cash-machines. 1892Pall Mall G. 3 Feb. 3/2 Penny-in-the-slot machine. 1895Westm. Gaz. 17 Apr. 3/3 The idea occurred to a Mr. Brownhill, of Birmingham, of adapting the penny-in-the-slot system to the gas meters... The demand for these penny-in-the-slot meters has been of an extra⁓ordinary character. 1900Shaw 3 Plays for Puritans p. xxvi, That is why your penny-in-the-slot heroes, who only work when you drop a motive into them, are so oppressively automatic and uninteresting. 1922D. H. Lawrence England, my England 255 I'll just put it aside o' the penny-in-the-slot. 1948Training of Doctor (B.M.A.) xv. 74 The fault lies as frequently with the harried and harassed physician seeking a ‘penny in the slot’ diagnosis. 1954L. Fairfield Epilepsy i. 23 In spite of the brilliant contributions made by encephalographers to the study of epilepsy, it would be wholly wrong to give the impression that they can provide a ‘penny in the slot’ diagnosis. 1970Daily Tel. 21 May 6/5 Hoisted on his brother's shoulder, he watches a striptease in a penny-in-the-slot machine at a fair.
1808Med. Jrnl. XIX. 348 *Penny leaf..Cotyledon umbilicus. 1886Britten & Holland Eng. Plant-n., Penny Leaves,..from its round, flat leaves.
1970Globe Mag. (Toronto) 26 Sept. 5/3 Chicks..who aren't really hippie, wear really good jeans... Some have *penny loafers. 1973Maclean's Mag. (Toronto) Feb. 28/1 They're classic: he's wearing checkered pants and brogues, she's got a skirt and pennyloafers. 1976T. Gifford Cavanaugh Quest (1977) i. 15 Two highly polished penny loafers with virgin tan soles.
1491Act. Audit. (1839) 146/2 Þe said James allegiis þat he has þe said landis in tak for *penny male alanerly. a1586in Pinkerton Anc. Scot. Poems (1786) 321 Sum with deir ferme ar hirreit haill, That wount to pay bot penny maill.
c1440Castle Persev. 2767 *Penyman is mekyl in mynde: my loue in hym I leye & laue. Ibid. 2779 Nyth & day, mydnyth & morn, in Penyman is al his trust. 1610in Calr. Doncaster Borough Rec. (1902) IV. 18 That no butcher dwelling within this towne commonly called a penny⁓man shall take for wages of any other butcher for killing of meat above 2d. for every beast.
1480Caxton Contn. Trevisa's Higden (Rolls) VIII. 556 Enleven schyllynges eyght pens, to be delyd *penymele. 1542–5Brinklow Lament. 8 Vnholpen..except it be on the Sondayes..by peany meale.
1601Sir W. Cornwallis Ess. xii, Like the *penny motions able to stirre, and stare, and downe againe.
1901G. B. Shaw Capt. Brassbound's Conversion iii. 297 He got his romantic nonsense out of his *penny numbers. 1958Listener 5 June 937/1 Pupils arrive from the depot in penny numbers. 1972Shooting Times & Country Mag. 27 May 12/1 The beats of Spey near Grantown were either returning penny numbers of fish or blanks for hard fishing.
c1846J. R. Planché Invisible Prince i. ii. 14 Fierce whiskered gents, as ever in pea jackets, Smoked bad cigars, on board the *penny packets. 1943Hunt & Pringle Service Slang 51 Penny packets, small parties of soldiers, less than a platoon, as seen from the air. 1961Daily Tel. 21 Apr. 17 Lord Bridges, chairman of the Royal Fine Art Commission, yesterday condemned piecemeal, penny-packet planning of new towns and replanning of older ones. 1979G. C. Peden Brit. Rearmament 119 The Treasury principle of locating the Air Force centrally instead of in penny packets around the Empire was observed.
1907Westm. Gaz. 16 Dec. 10/1 What are known as ‘*penny pawns’ abound in the district. A broker who keeps one of these can purchase an article of any value from a penny upwards. He is compelled to keep it for seven full days.
1925J. Gregory Bab of Backwoods xxi. 269 Willoughby, skinflint, *penny-peeler and nickel grabber that he was, smelled a deal and asked them five thousand dollars for ten acres!
1920D. H. Lawrence Lost Girl vi. 99 This grubby *penny-picking England.
1601Stow Ann. 957 The butchers of London sold *penny pieces of beefe for the reliefe of the poore, euery piece two pounde and a halfe. 1797Lond. Gaz. No. 14031/2 Such Penny Pieces [shall be received] as of the Value of One Penny. 1899Crockett Ione March xiv, ‘Don't you give in, or take a penny-piece from one of them!’ she said. 1938M. K. Rawlings Yearling ii. 17 Why, you leetle ol' penny piece, you. You're good money, a'right, but hit jest don't come no smaller. Leetle ol' Penny Baxter. 1963Times 25 Apr. 17/1 Coyle, he maintained, did not receive ‘a penny piece’ in the transactions and his only motive in disposing of the bicycles was to please his immediate superiors. 1975E. Page Element of Chance vi. 66 In another three years..you can divorce her without her consent... I very much doubt that..you'd have to pay her a penny piece.
1866Treas. Bot. 341 Its orbicular concave peltate exceedingly succulent leaves, called by children *Penny-pies.
1673Wedderburn's Vocab. 13 (Jam.) Capsella fictilis, a *penny pig. 1827Scott Jrnl. 24 Feb., Your penny-pig collections don't succeed.
1961J. Yaffe in Webster s.v. *penny-pinch, A sinister but fascinating kind of joy in..penny-pinching his own family. 1961S. N. Behrman in Ibid., Penny-pinched himself out of..millions of dollars. 1977P. G. Winslow Witch Hill Murder ii. v. 92 He penny-pinched on the candles..so the servants had to spend their few hours off in practically pitch darkness. 1979Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVII. 126/1 The dismally penny-pinched equipment compared with foreign institutions.
1934Webster, *Penny pincher, a niggardly or parsimonious person. 1956F. Castle Violent Hours (1966) xviii. 174 If Forhaan had really been a penny-pincher, he would never have offered so quickly to pay for Hazel's care. 1967Guardian 22 Feb. 4/7 A sparkling dialectic arose between the risk takers on the boards and the penny pinchers. 1973‘D. Shannon’ Spring of Violence (1974) ix. 150 Typical of the penny-pincher miser.
1905N.E.D., *Penny-pinching. 1920S. Lewis Main St. xi. 144 The penny-pinching old land-thief. 1951Ann. Reg. 1950 192 Mr Johnson had come under heavy fire as the man whose ‘penny-pinching’ with military expenditures had paved the way for the reverses in Korea. 1953C. S. Forester Hornblower & Atropos xiii. 190 The penny-pinching clerks of a penurious government at home would scrutinize those expenditures in time. 1960Guardian 20 July 6/6 Penny-pinching on new roads is inexcusable. 1971Ibid. 7 Aug. 10/1 Mr Rowley's decision is both penny-pinching and short-sighted. 1973E. Berckman Victorian Album 34 The better-off the woman was, the more apt she'd be to play those penny-pinching tricks. 1977Time 30 May 24/2 Under increasing criticism—from liberals, who regard him as too much of a pennypinching conservative,..Carter took to the hustings again by making a whirlwind, campaign-style tour of California.
1859G. A. Sala Twice round Clock 253 The Scala..with its rabbit-hutch-like private boxes, whose doors are scrawled over with the *penny plain and twopence coloured-like coats of arms of the..Lombardian nobility. 1884R. L. Stevenson in Mag. of Art Apr. 227 (title) A penny plain and twopence coloured. 1920‘O. Douglas’ Penny Plain vi. 60 Having been all her life so very ‘twopence coloured’ she wants the ‘penny plain’ for a change. 1974‘S. Woods’ Done to Death 71 A track led to a penny-plain stone cottage.
1920‘O. Douglas’ Penny Plain vi. 60 There is no mistake about our ‘*penny-plainness’—it jumps to the eye!
1643Trapp Comm. Gen. xli. 35 Neither was this a *penny⁓pouch, but a bag so big, as needed a bearer.
c1650in Keble Bp. Wilson vi. (1863) 197 [The Lord's debt is first to be paid; secondly, orphans' goods; and afterwards the claimer's] *penny-pound like.
1473Paston Lett. III. 83 Raff Blaundrehasset wer a name to styrte an hare..; ware that *jd. perse. c1645Howell Lett. vi. xvii. (1650) 204 His heart was shrivelled like a Leather peny-purse when he was dissected.
1606W. Birnie Kirk-Buriall (1833) 16 This superstition is..becomme most *penny-rife Papistry.
a1619Fletcher Wit without M. iv. v, Till you break in at plays like prentices,..and crack nuts with the scholars In *penny rooms.
1932C. M. Alsager Dict. Business Terms 261 *Penny stocks, a term applied to stocks that sell below one dollar per share and that are usually quoted in cents, not in fractions of a dollar, on an exchange or over the counter. 1935Sun (Baltimore) 25 Oct. 22/1 More often than not..an increased turnover in what Wall Street calls the ‘penny stocks’ has been a sign that the market is heading toward a reaction. 1942Richmond (Virginia) Times-Dispatch 29 Dec. 18/1 Turnover of 1,201,522 shares, propped by belated tax offerings in sizable blocks of ‘penny’ stocks, was the second largest of the year to date. 1967Economist 28 Oct. 419/1 This is a peculiarly American worry{ddd}nowhere else are there so many thousands of ‘penny’ stocks ripe for speculation.
14..Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 598/13 Numarius,..a *penitollere.
1783Wolcott (P. Pindar) Odes Roy. Acad. vi, Sound their own praise from their own *penny trumpet. 1827Hansard's Parl. Deb. XVI. 1249 Drums, and the abomination of penny trumpets were in request among the younger inhabitants.
1828Blackw. Mag. XXIII. 367 Having acted as his own *penny-trumpeter.
c1730Burt Lett. N. Scotl. xi. (1754) I. 261 They have a *Penny-Wedding: that is, when a Servant-Maid has served faithfully, and gained the good will of her master and mistress, they invite their Relations and Friends, and there is a Dinner or Supper on the Day the Servant is married... In the End every Body puts Money into a Dish..for the new Couple. a1845Hood Kilmansegg, Honeymoon vi, Love..will fly away from an Emperor's match To dance at a Penny Wedding!
1785Burns Holy Fair xix, Be 't whisky gill, or *penny wheep, Or ony stronger potion. 1821Blackw. Mag. Dec. 671 (Jam.) To get desirably tipsy upon penny⁓whip for twopence.
1622Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. ii. 95 [Her] estate was now such..that..she was *penny-white (as we say), and so was married in the end. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Penny-white, said of her, to whom Fortune has been kinder than Nature. |