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pennyweight

[pen-ee-weyt]
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noun
  1. (in troy weight) a unit of 24 grains or 1/20 of an ounce (1.56 grams). Abbreviation: dwt, pwt
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Origin of pennyweight

1350–1400; Middle English penyweight, Old English penega gewihte. See penny, weight
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for pennyweight

Historical Examples

  • Of course I have 'counted the cost,'—I have weighed the question to a pennyweight!

    The Martins Of Cro' Martin, Vol. II (of II)

    Charles James Lever

  • It draws at sixty pounds—not a pennyweight too much for a man of your inches.

    Sir Nigel

    Arthur Conan Doyle

  • Forty thousand ounces of gold, mates, not a pennyweight less?'

    Grif

    B. L. (Benjamin Leopold) Farjeon

  • A block of rock from the centre shaft showed 57 pennyweight to the ton.

    Through South Africa

    Henry M. Stanley

  • Gold of the same coin, and of Arabia, at five shillings the pennyweight.

British Dictionary definitions for pennyweight

pennyweight

noun
  1. a unit of weight equal to 24 grains or one twentieth of an ounce (Troy)
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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

Word Origin and History for pennyweight

n.

Old English penega gewiht, originally the weight of a silver penny; see penny + weight (n.).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper