threepenny
Americanadjective
-
of the amount or value of threepence.
-
of little worth.
Etymology
Origin of threepenny
late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; see origin at three, 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.
The paper's lead story says the £1 coin is to be scrapped in favour of a new design "shaped like an old threepenny bit".
From BBC • Mar. 18, 2014
I especially loved the threepenny bit for its dodecagonal - 12-sided - weirdness, its brass and nickel sallow yellow gleam and the crowned portcullis on its back.
From BBC • Apr. 30, 2010
In London, a coroner found that the late Sidney Corrall, acquisitive but non compos mentis, had swallowed and kept all to himself 201 pennies, florins, shillings, halfpennies, sixpences, half crowns, and threepenny bits.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Germans like Luis mainly because he speaks English volubly and can make change from ten bob for a threepenny Cadbury's bar.
From Time Magazine Archive
With a hammer and two threepenny nails in hand, Stella Armijo emerged from her low adobe farmhouse one morning while Herbie reclined on his front stoop trying to read a book.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
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.
