Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A coin formerly used in Great Britain, worth two shillings and sixpence.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An English silver coin of half the value of the crown — that is, 2s. 6d. It has been current since the time of Edward VI.
- n. A gold coin worth 2s. 6d., formerly current in England, and first issued by Henry VIII.
Wiktionary
- n. A pre-decimal coin used in Britain and Ireland, now obsolete, equivalent to two shillings and six pence
Examples
“At the same time -- fitting accompaniment to the over-bold words -- Peter saw a half-crown, a round, solid, terrible _half-crown_, pressed into Urquhart's unsuspecting hand.”
“Where did we queue to buy the commemorative crown pieces, the silver five-bobs that suddenly made sense of the term "half-crown", of which they were the vanished ancestors?”
The Guardian: My memories of the Festival of Britain? 'Oh, not another queue' | Ian Jack
“The great man had smiled at him then, and - perhaps mistaking him for a beggar himself - handed him a coin, a half-crown showing the profile of the mad old Lizard King, George III, which Orphan had kept ever since for good luck.”
“And then to us, 'Who'll lend me a half-crown and a sovereign!”
“He stated that himself and wife and two older children, besides the two in the dock, occupied that room; he stated also that he occupied it because he could get no other room for the half-crown”
“But that same night he raised from several sources a motley mound of coin: Spanish milled dollars, English crowns and shillings, a French half-crown.”
“She holds up a half-crown and tosses it overboard but no one follows it; she is warned by Dennitson and Captain Bentley not to throw another crown over the side but she does so and the boy follows it over the rail.”
““But maybe, Madge, ye wad mind something about it, if I was to gie ye this half-crown?” said Sharpitlaw, taking out the piece of money.”
“Hancock: Traitors to what, Mr. Dickinson- The British Crown, or the British *half-crown*?”
“Give Gammer Jenkins this half-crown for me — unless our cousin, Warrington, has already given her money.”
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