tenpenny

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

adjective

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

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. 2018

Examples from the Web for tenpenny

Historical Examples of tenpenny

They scowled at him as if they were mad enough to bite off the heads of tenpenny nails.
Welsh Fairy Tales
William Elliott Griffis
Like Thoreau, I believe I could live on a tenpenny nail, if it comes to that.
The Sea and the Jungle
H. M. Tomlinson
The Examiner has let down its price from a tenpenny to a sevenpenny.
Leigh Hunt's Relations with Byron, Shelley and Keats
Barnette Miller
You have disgraced your family long enough in that old black rag, or in something made of tenpenny muslin!
The Tree of Knowledge
Mrs. Baillie Reynolds
I looked at them for a while in wonderment, and at last I threw out a "tenpenny" in the midst.
The Martins Of Cro' Martin, Vol. I (of II)
Charles James Lever

British Dictionary definitions for tenpenny

tenpenny

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