penny

penny
noun (plural for separate coins pennies, for a sum of money pence)
1》 (abbrev.: p.) a British bronze coin and monetary unit equal to one hundredth of a pound.
    ↘(abbrev.: d.) a former British coin and monetary unit equal to one twelfth of a shilling and 240th of a pound.
    ↘N. Amer. informal a one-cent coin.
    ↘(in biblical use) a denarius.
2》 [with negative] (a penny) no money at all.
Phrases
be two (or ten) a penny chiefly Brit. be plentiful and thus of little value.
in for a penny, in for a pound expressing an intention to see an undertaking through, however much time, effort, or money this entails.
pennies from heaven unexpected benefits.
the penny drops informal, chiefly Brit. one finally realizes something.
a penny for your thoughts a request to someone to say what they are thinking about.
Origin
OE penig, penning of Gmc origin; perh. related to pawn2 and (with ref. to shape) pan1.
Usage
On the different uses of the plural forms pence and pennies, see usage at pence.

English new terms dictionary. 2014.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • penny — penny …   Dictionnaire des rimes

  • penny — [ peni ] n. m. • v. 1450; mot angl. ♦ Un penny, des pence [ pɛns ]. Monnaie anglaise, autrefois le douzième du shilling; depuis l adoption du système décimal, le centième de la livre. « gigotant d un mauvais pied pour un penny, pour deux pences… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • PENNY — ist: eine alte Währungseinheit und Münze im englischen Sprachraum, siehe Penny (Münze) eine davon abgeleitete Bezeichnung für amerikanische Cents Kurzbezeichnung für die englische Briefmarke One Penny Black, die ab 1840 ausgegeben wurde eine… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Penny — Pen*ny, n.; pl. {Pennies}or {Pence}. Pennies denotes the number of coins; pence the amount of pennies in value. [OE. peni, AS. penig, pening, pending; akin to D. penning, OHG. pfenning, pfenting, G. pfennig, Icel. penningr; of uncertain origin.]… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Penny — ist: eine alte Währungseinheit und Münze im englischen Sprachraum, siehe Penny (Münze) eine umgangssprachliche Bezeichnung für die 1 Cent Münze (Vereinigte Staaten) Kurzbezeichnung für die englische Briefmarke One Penny Black, die ab 1840… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • penny — ► NOUN (pl. pennies (for separate coins); pence (for a sum of money)) 1) a British bronze coin worth one hundredth of a pound. 2) a former British coin worth one twelfth of a shilling and 240th of a pound. 3) N. Amer. informal a one cent coin. ●… …   English terms dictionary

  • Penny — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda La palabra inglesa Penny puede referirse a: Personajes ficticios Penny, un personaje de la comedia The Big Bang Theory. Penny, un personaje de la serie Lost. Penny Halliwell, personaje de ficción de la serie… …   Wikipedia Español

  • penny — O.E. pening, penig penny, from P.Gmc. *panninggaz (Cf. O.N. penningr, Swed. pänning, O.Fris. panning, M.Du. pennic, O.H.G. pfenning, Ger. Pfennig, not recorded in Gothic, where skatts is used instead), of unknown origin. The English coin was… …   Etymology dictionary

  • penny — [pen′ē] n. pl. for 1 a & b, pence; for 1 c, 2 4, pennies [ME peny < OE penig, pening, akin to Ger pfennig: < ? early WGmc borrowing < L pannus, cloth: see PAWN1] 1. in the United Kingdom and certain other countries, a) a monetary unit… …   English World dictionary

  • penny — pen‧ny [ˈpeni] noun [countable] 1. abbreviation p pence PLURALFORM a unit of money used in Britain since 1971. There are 100 pence in one pound: • It only costs a few pence …   Financial and business terms

  • Penny — Pen ny, a. Worth or costing one penny. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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