bawbee
Americannoun
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an old Scottish bullion coin, originally worth about three halfpence of English coin, later sixpence.
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a halfpenny.
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anything of little value.
noun
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a former Scottish silver coin
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an informal word for halfpenny
Etymology
Origin of bawbee
First recorded in 1535–45; named after Alexander Orok, 16th-century mintmaster, laird of Sille bawby
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
They couldna imagine a bawbee or a kind word to anybody but themsel's.
From A Reconstructed Marriage by Barr, Amelia Edith Huddleston
You will each of you give a silver crown piece; that, and not a bawbee over it.
From A Reconstructed Marriage by Barr, Amelia Edith Huddleston
The doctor tell't us that my faither had just come to the warst, and that it was just the toss up o' a bawbee whether he lived or died.
From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 12 by Various
“Ef I had a bawbee for every one o’ the creatures I’ve heard howl I’d nae doot be fixed for life,” The McNab assured them.
From Phil Bradley's Snow-shoe Trail The Mountain Boys in the Canada Wilds by Boone, Silas K.
It is all right to the last bawbee.
From Prisoners of Conscience by Barr, Amelia Edith Huddleston
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
