ninepence

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“
"Shilling shockers" are sold at ninepence, which is as comical as selling "tenpenny nails" at sixpence.

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Definitions (6)

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  1. The sum of nine pennies. No English coin of this face-value has ever been issued; but the silver “shillings” issued by Elizabeth for Ireland in 1561 passed current in England for ninepence. Henceforth the “harpers” [i. e., Irish shillings], for his sake, shall stand But for plain nine-pence throughout all the land. Webster and Dekker, Sir Thomas Wyatt. The nine-pence was a coin formerly much favoured by faithful lovers in humble life as a token of their mutual affection. It was for this purpose broken into two pieces, and each party preserved with care one portion until, on their meeting again, they hastened to renew their vows. J. G. Nichols, in Numismatic Chronicle (1840), II. 84.
  2. In New England, a Spanish silver coin, the real (of Mexican plate), about equal in value to 9 pence of New England currency, or 12½ cents. The word is still occasionally used in reckoning.
  3. Commendation ninepence. See commendation.
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Examples (50)

  • When Miss Ruth died her net negotiable assets were seventeen shillings and ninepence, a Breeches Bible, and a garnet necklace, which we hocked to pay for her funeral. —  More Work for the Undertaker - Margery Allingham - Campion 13
  • He insisted upon adding the extra ninepence, as he did not doubt that the servant had eaten as much as he. —  Democracy, an American novel
  • By laying a guinea in aquafortis for twelve hours he could filch from it to the value of ninepence, and by letting it remain there for twenty-four, to the value of eighteenpence, the aquafortis eating the gold away, and leaving it like a sediment in the vessel. —  The Romany Rye a sequel to "Lavengro"
  • He had a clean and comfortable bed for ninepence, and a good breakfast for a few coppers. —  Chatterbox, 1905.
  • Last Sundy aw addled three an' ninepence, at Siddal an' Whitegate. —  Yorkshire Tales. Third Series Amusing sketches of Yorkshire Life in the Yorkshire Dialect
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Etymologies (1)

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  1. Orig. two words, nine pence.
 

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