penny-in-the-slotadj.n.
/ˌpɛnɪ ɪn ðə ˈslɒt/, U.S. /ˈˌpɛni ɪn ðə ˈslɑt/ British.
A. adj.
Designating or relating to a machine or mechanical device (as a weighing machine, dispensing machine, etc.) actuated by the fall of a penny inserted through a slot or narrow opening. Also figurative. Cf. slot-machine n. at slot n.2 Compounds 2b.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > types of machine generally > [adjective] > coin-operated
penny-in-the-slot1889
slot-machine1891
quarter-in-the-slot1903
coin-in-the-slot1904
coin-operated1960
1888 Daily News (Frederick, Maryland) 19 Mar. Age cannot wither nor custom stale the infinite variety of uses of the drop-your-penny-in-the-slot machine.]
1889 Boston Daily Globe 1 June 8/3 The ‘penny in the slot’ machine must have reached its cumination in that invented by a Mr. Englebert.
1890 Times 29 Aug. 8/5 It is proposed to supply gas to small consumers on the automatic penny in the slot principle.
1891 R. Kipling Light that Failed xiv. 281 They've got one of them penny-in-the-slot cash-machines.
1900 G. B. Shaw Three 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.
1927 Illustr. Catal. Fine & Rare Bks. (Myers & Co.) No. 260. 23 Dictionaries of treatment which are called for by doctors who do the penny-in-the-slot business and have so many remedies for each disease and each symptom.
1954 L. 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.
1970 Daily 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.
1998 C. Mims When we Die (1999) viii. 189 James O'Keilly of New York, the inventor of the original penny-in-the-slot machine, had an idea about corpse disposal in the stratosphere.
B. n.
A penny-in-the-slot machine. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > types of machine generally > [noun] > coin-operated
automatic machine1808
slot-machine1891
automat1895
penny-in-the-slot1922
slot1950
coin-op1960
1922 D. H. Lawrence England my England 255 I'll just put it aside o' the penny-in-the-slot.
1990 in J. Faley Up oor Close vi. 101 The other highlight was when the man came to empty the gas meter. It was a ‘penny in the slot’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1889