brass farthing
Britishnoun
Etymology
Origin of brass farthing
C18: probably coined when farthings were first minted in bronze rather than silver
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.
Nobody will be betting a brass farthing on history repeating itself, though.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
“So far, no one has actually parted with a brass farthing as far as I can tell.”
From New York Times ● May 20, 2012
I care not a brass farthing for them:—only I do rather wish that I had purchased the Count de Neny's Catalogue of the Printed Books and Manscripts in the Royal Library of France.
From Bibliomania; or Book-Madness A Bibliographical Romance by Thomas Frognall Dibdin
Desmond, for instance, wouldn't give a brass farthing for life out of sight of those hard-featured hills.
From Captain Desmond, V.C. by Maud Diver
Come, Miss Sally!—a hundred pounds to a brass farthing I knock all the vice out of the worst beast they can find in an hour.
From Somehow Good by William Frend De Morgan
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.
