Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A soldiers' nickname for the pompom gun.
  • noun to fire a pompom at it.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • It's not that he throws out the sort of "stands to reason" opinions that are ten-a-penny on phone-ins, more that he uses lightly applied logic to explode much of the bullshit we're encouraged to believe about the world.

    This week's new comedy 2012

  • With Woolf as a presiding spirit, she undertakes to walk this 42-mile, ten-a-penny kind of English river that rises near Haywards Heath and empties into the Channel at Newhaven City of the Dead, according to Woolf from source to sea.

    To the River: A Journey Beneath the Surface by Olivia Laing – review 2011

  • Comebacks are ten-a-penny these days, and not always guaranteed to be entirely dignified affairs – but some have been the bearers of genuinely exciting new music

    Readers recommend comeback songs: The results Paul Macinnes 2010

  • Of course where you are IMAX might be ten-a-penny, but here in Scotland there's only one, I believe that's the same for Ireland too, and looking at the list of IMAX venues in the world there are some audiences who are seriously limited too.

    Filmstalker: Batman 3 IMAX only? 2009

  • The plan is simple: this is rush hour and trains from Cardiff to Bristol should be ten-a-penny.

    …time management « Sven’s guide to… 2006

  • The only character I had any interest or belief in was Ori and it's not as if self-reflexive Angry Young Men aren't ten-a-penny.

    Slow Train Coming 2005

  • And if exclusivity matters to you, in some parts of the world Elises are ten-a-penny.

    Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph 2011

  • Musically, it could be argued that Ikons follow a script which has been written before; with big albums from the likes of The Horrors, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and Delphic, rehashes of My Bloody Valentine, New Order and the C86 scene are ten-a-penny right now.

    The Line Of Best Fit Mathew Parri Thomas 2010

  • Musically, it could be argued that Ikons follow a script which has been written before; with big albums from the likes of The Horrors, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and Delphic, rehashes of My Bloody Valentine, New Order and the C86 scene are ten-a-penny right now.

    The Line Of Best Fit Mathew Parri Thomas 2010

  • Musically, it could be argued that Ikons follow a script which has been written before; with big albums from the likes of The Horrors, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and Delphic, rehashes of My Bloody Valentine, New Order and the C86 scene are ten-a-penny right now.

    The Line Of Best Fit Mathew Parri Thomas 2010

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