Definitions
Wiktionary
- n. UK Halfpennyworth.
- n. UK, slang A silly or foolish person.
- n. UK, slang A thing of little value.
Etymologies
- Northern British English, from British English half-penny’s worth, often used in the phrase “daft ha’porth”. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“In any event, it didn't make a ha'porth of difference.”
“Not that it made a ha'porth of difference: they'd seen what they'd seen, and held by it.”
“It's because MsR is so classy that I know that whatever underwear I buy her won't make a ha'porth of difference to my prospect of, as you so quaintly put it, 'ravishing her'.”
“Given the amount of work that's been done ...and done well...on this house by these builders, why spoil the ship for a ha'porth of tar as they say?”
“Portuguese premier José Socrates also contributed his ha'porth, pronouncing: "The Portuguese presidency has received a mandate to produce a new treaty, and in the mandate it doesn't say 'oh, by the way, you can revise the mandate.”
“To add to the confusion, we now have the intervention of Austrian chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, who has added his ha'porth to the debate by proclaiming that only a "strict" double majority would ensure equality among European Union member states.”
“And what's more, he hasn't a ha'porth of belief in the Heavenly Creator, who made us out of earthly clay; but he says it's all the work of nature even to the last beast.”
“Mooning over this Alamut List won't do a ha'porth of good – if we wait for them to start we've already lost half the battle! ”
“There was that stepmother — But it doesn't make a ha'porth of difference to our plans: we'll start on the ebb to-morrow morning. ”
“There isn't more than a ha'porth of meat in a crab.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘ha'porth’.
-
The Aubrey/Maturin List I'm Gonna Mak...
I'm wading through Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels one by one, and someday, I'll wade through them again and list all the words I learned while reading them.
Edit: I started ma...studdingsail, carronade, mumchance, grumlin-futtocks, crosscat-harpings, holystone, sennit, orlop, orchitis, negus, kevel, altumal and 1112 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for ha'porth.
gangerh You guess right c_b. I recall using the word during my childtime. We had a coin, a halfpenny piece. Half a penny, of course. Shortened to a ha'penny (pronounced 'haypenny' or 'haypnee'). So from 'halfpenny worth' to 'ha'penny worth' to 'ha'p'orth' to 'ha'porth' (pronounced 'hayperth'). At the time you would get 480 'haypnies' to the pound sterling! I calculate that a ha'porth equivalent now is 0.20833rec... of a (new) UK penny! Not a lot of tar. Feb 20, 2008
chained_bear If I had to guess, I would say "half-penny-worth," but I won't guess. Here's a usage:
"'We have hurried so much already that it would be a pity to spoil the ship with a ha'porth of tar at this stage.'"
--Patrick O'Brian, The Far Side of the World, 82 Feb 20, 2008