Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Plural of halfpenny.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun an English coin worth half a penny; -- no longer minted.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Plural form of halfpenny.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • It will scarcely be credited, that this dreadful description, when stripped of its exaggerations, meant no more than that Ireland might lose about six thousand a year during Wood's patent for coining halfpence!

    Irish Wit and Humor Anecdote Biography of Swift, Curran, O'Leary and O'Connell Anonymous

  • 1724, Lord Carteret, at his first coming into the government, was prevailed on to issue a proclamation for promising the like reward of £300 to any person who would discover the author of a pamphlet, called "The Drapier's Fourth Letter," etc., writ against that destructive project of coining halfpence for Ireland; but in neither kingdom was the

    The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume 1 Jonathan Swift 1706

  • Court for being four days without dining with him; so I dined there to-day, and he has at last fallen in with my project (as he calls it) of coining halfpence and farthings, with devices, like medals, in honour of the Queen, every year changing the device.

    The Journal to Stella 2003

  • Lord Treasurer quarrelled with me at Court for being four days without dining with him; so I dined there to-day, and he has at last fallen in with my project (as he calls it) of coining halfpence and farthings, with devices, like medals, in honour of the Queen, every year changing the device.

    The Journal to Stella Swift, Jonathan, 1667-1745 1901

  • A patent was given to Wood permitting him to coin halfpence and farthings to the value of one hundred and eight thousand pounds.

    A History of the Four Georges, Volume I (of 4) Justin McCarthy 1871

  • If it should be thought proper by wiser heads, that his Majesty might be applied to in a national way, for giving the kingdom leave to coin halfpence for its own use, I believe no good subject will be under the least apprehension that such a request could meet with refusal, or the least delay.

    The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. - Volume 07 Historical and Political Tracts-Irish Jonathan Swift 1706

  • Treasurer quarrelled with me at Court for being four days without dining with him; so I dined there to-day, and he has at last fallen in with my project (as he calls it) of coining halfpence and farthings, with devices, like medals, in honour of the Queen, every year changing the device.

    The Journal to Stella Jonathan Swift 1706

  • I will meet you and your luggage at the Inn. I have several times intended to remind you that If your Cousins at Honington or any other boys have any 'Fairies Cakes,' curiously markd pebbles and will part with them for halfpence, bring what you can, They will know what you mean.

    Letter 243 2009

  • Riches to chuck guineas about like halfpence, or poverty to beg in a ditch!

    Camilla 2008

  • The first act of this Sage, was, to administer to the effects of his predecessor, by disinterring all the cheese and halfpence he had buried in the garden — a work of immense labour and research, to which he devoted all the energies of his mind.

    Barnaby Rudge 2007

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