penny candy

American  

[pen-ee kan-dee] / ˈpɛn i ˌkæn di /

noun

1. 1. small, loose candies purchased singly or in quantity for just a few cents.

      I remember how we would find pop bottles worth 5 cents and take them to the corner store for a bag of penny candy.

   2. a single piece or type of this candy.

      My favorite penny candy was a caramel.

      I can remember having 15 penny candies and feeling rich.

2. an insignificant thing, amount, cost, etc..

   The test costs $350 or less, and in the medical world, that is mere penny candy.

   This government’s fiscal mismanagement makes the previous administration’s look like penny candy.

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idioms

1. like pen·ny can·dy, quickly and easily; thoughtlessly and indiscriminately, as if dealing with something cheap or insignificant.

   His latest movie is a perfunctory effort—just an hour long and meant to be consumed like penny candy.

   She flattered people and scattered promises like penny candy.

Etymology

Origin of penny candy

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

As my palate matured, I found that maple flavor tastes cheap, like penny candy, and frankly it is a taste that I do not associate with food.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 25, 2018

Chris Rothe hit the jackpot this weekend with the stuff of penny candy.

From Washington Post • Aug. 5, 2018

It would be like me getting 30 minutes with the ghost of Abraham Lincoln, and grilling him about the time he got detention in his one-room schoolhouse for eating penny candy, or something.

From Golf Digest • May 8, 2017

“You could buy penny candy, so a nickel was quite a bit at the time. Nobody had much money in the ‘30s, so you didn’t get many nickels.”

From Washington Times • Apr. 23, 2017

I ask Mr. Nielsen if I can use my own earnings to give a child a stick of penny candy now and then, and he laughs.

From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline