| 单词 | only tenpence in the shilling |
| 释义 | > as lemmasonly tenpence in the shilling 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. < as lemmas |
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