twopence
Americannoun
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twopence,
plural
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twopences
plural
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(used with a singular or plural verb) a sum of two pennies.
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a bronze coin of the United Kingdom equal to two pennies: issued after decimalization in 1971.
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a former copper coin of Great Britain, equal to two pennies, issued under George III.
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a former silver coin of England, equal to two pennies: issued only as maundy money after 1662.
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a trifle.
noun
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the sum of two pennies
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(used with a negative) something of little value (in the phrase not care or give twopence )
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a former British silver coin, now only coined as Maundy money
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of twopence
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.
See Examples For:
I know the “real” scientists don’t give a twopence about Tenpenny’s claims.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 10, 2021
On Wednesday, too, railway fares increased twopence to threepence on the shilling.
From Time Magazine Archive
But in prestige and influence the Daily Telegraph has come up to rank with its matutinal colleague, the Times, which has 192,000 circulation at twopence.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Telegraph got off to a fast start 95 years ago by charging twopence when rival dailies were selling for fivepence.
From Time Magazine Archive
Children who seemed to have escaped evacuation ran about on the grass shouting and laughing, the band struggled with music beyond its capabilities, and deck chairs still cost twopence.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
Do you think Miss Delane is made of twopences?
From The Man Upstairs and Other Stories by P. G. (Pelham Grenville) Wodehouse
Ardiune, presiding 251 at the cauldron, mixed cups of cocoa as speedily as possible, and handed them out in exchange for twopences.
From The Madcap of the School by Balliol Salmon
The twopences which used to be thrown to a sweeper will now pay for a ride, and the smallest coin is considered a sufficient guerdon for a service so light.
From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 437 Volume 17, New Series, May 15, 1852 by William Chambers
Some were broken; and the odd twopences and threepences, wanted to pay for their repairs, were required for the far sterner necessity of food.
From Mary Barton by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
“Two twopences don’t make eightpence,” retorted the florid gentleman hotly.
From Sketches in Lavender, Blue and Green by Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka) Jerome
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.
