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fourpenny

American  
[fawr-pen-ee, -puh-nee, fohr-] / ˈfɔrˌpɛn i, -pə ni, ˈfoʊr- /

adjective

  1. Carpentry.

    1. noting a nail 1.5 inches (3.8 centimeters) long.

    2. noting certain fine nails 1.375 inches (3.5 centimeters) long. 4d

  2. British. of the amount or value of fourpence.


fourpenny British  
/ ˈfɔːpənɪ /

adjective

  1. slang a blow, esp with the fist

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of fourpenny

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English. See four, penny

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.

When he was a child-actor in London he used to steal waitresses' fourpenny tips to eke out his meagre lunches.

From Time Magazine Archive

I never, in my fourpenny dining-place, looked at the drayman or porter at the next table and wondered whether he also knew the heights and abysses I knew.

From In Accordance with the Evidence by Onions, Oliver [pseud.]

Never a month but I’ve given you a silver fourpenny for yourself.

From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson Swanston Edition Vol. 6 (of 25) by Stevenson, Robert Louis

There was a clergyman for you, of a very different pattern from that other, who gave, every Sunday, a fourpenny piece wrapped carefully in a piece of paper, to be divided among the waitresses!

From Black Diamonds by Jókai, Mór

How does that agree with a fourpenny tax on a four-pound loaf of bread?

From Through South Africa His Visit to Rhodesia, the Transvaal, Cape Colony, Natal by Stanley, Henry M. (Henry Morton)