Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An English colonial copper coin of half the value of the farthing, issued for circulation in Ceylon during the reigns of George IV., William IV., and Victoria. It has not been coined since 1856.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Chatou, I have but one God, one King, one half-farthing, and one boot.

    Les Miserables 2008

  • In 1570 the "payer of balowes" were sold, and in 1583 the pipes, "wayeng eleven score and thirteen pounds, went for fourpence half-farthing the pound."

    The Churches of Coventry A Short History of the City & Its Medieval Remains Frederick W. Woodhouse

  • The mids, with the exception of three, were fine-looking lads from the ages of fifteen to eighteen, fond of fun and mischief and of their half-pint of rum; were frequently at watch and watch, mast-headed, pooped, and confined to their half-farthing candle-lighted mess-holes.

    A Sailor of King George Frederick Hoffman

  • If he build it into his house he commits no trespass till he lives in the house long enough to gain the value of a half-farthing.

    Hebrew Literature Epiphanius Wilson 1880

  • If he take away a consecrated half-farthing he commits no trespass.

    Hebrew Literature Epiphanius Wilson 1880

  • There is, it is well known, the old paradox of the geometric series; you may add a farthing to a halfpenny, and then a half-farthing, and then a quarter-farthing, and then the eighth of a farthing, followed by the sixteenth, and thirty-second, and so on, halving the contribution each time.

    Time and Tide A Romance of the Moon 1876

  • I sometimes bestowed a half-farthing, always expressed great gratitude.

    A Lady's Glimpse of the Late War in Bohemia 1867

  • For the critics, Lamb said in the same letter, he did not care the "five hundred thousandth part of a half-farthing;" and we can believe him.

    The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 4 Poems and Plays Charles Lamb 1804

  • Just as the florins is of much higher denomination and value than the half-farthing, so also should it be understood that faith is much higher and more efficacious than works.

    Apology of the Augsburg Confession Philipp Melanchthon 1528

  • It does not follow that because a half-farthing does not help, therefore a florin also does not help.

    Apology of the Augsburg Confession Philipp Melanchthon 1528

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