tenpenny

[ ten-pen-ee, -puh-nee ]

/ ˈtɛnˌpɛn i, -pə ni /

adjective

noting a nail 3 inches (7.6 cm) in length. Symbol: 10d.

worth or costing 10 cents.

Nearby words

Origin of tenpenny

late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; see origin at ten, penny

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for tenpenny

He used a tenpenny nail and a hammer in the good old way to which he was brought up.
The Mutiny of the Elsinore|Jack London
William collects things—everything from tenpenny nails to teapots, I should say, and they're all there in his rooms.
Miss Billy's Decision|Eleanor H. Porter
From John Blane, during the same year, he purchased 2500 tenpenny nails and the same quantity of eightpenny nails.
The Cultural History of Marlborough, Virginia|C. Malcolm Watkins
They would not know how to exaggerate a broom-stick; for the life of them they could not exaggerate a tenpenny nail.
Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens|G. K. Chesterton

They gave forty tenpenny pieces to the piper and told him to throw the bodies into a hole far from the house.
Legends of Saints & Sinners|Douglas Hyde

British Dictionary definitions for tenpenny

tenpenny

/ (ˈtɛnpənɪ) /

adjective

(prenominal) US and Canadian (of a nail) three inches in length

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