tenpenny
Americanadjective
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noting a nail 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) in length. 10d.
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worth or costing 10 cents.
adjective
Etymology
Origin of tenpenny
A late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; see origin at ten, 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.
Cowan’s Roosevelt slashes the air with his right hand while making key points; he clips his words with a speaking style that one contemporary likened to biting off tenpenny nails.
From Washington Post • Jan. 29, 2016
But I will wager a toothpick against a tenpenny nail that Hoover will be renominated and re-elected in 1932.
From Time Magazine Archive
That could hardly have worried Harold Stassen less: he was already hard at work hammering tenpenny nails into his political platform.
From Time Magazine Archive
The strongest magnet ever made will not pull tenpenny nails out of a board at a distance of one yard.
From Time Magazine Archive
A whitened human skull, fastened to a post by a rusty tenpenny nail, served as a signboard and notified the passing traveler that he was about to enter the limits of Skull, New Mexico.
From Kid Wolf of Texas by Powers, Paul S. (Paul Sylvester)
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.
