Definitions
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun the amount that can be bought for a halfpenny.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun UK As much as could be bought for a
halfpenny (pre- or post-decimalisation ). - noun UK (
informal ) A negligible amount.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the amount that can be bought for a halfpenny
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Newman Noggs did not say that he had hunted up the old furniture they saw, from attic and cellar; or that he had taken in the halfpennyworth of milk for tea that stood upon a shelf, or filled the rusty kettle on the hob, or collected the woodchips from the wharf, or begged the coals.
Nicholas Nickleby 2007
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One halfpennyworth of the bread of incident to an intolerable deal of the sack of strained style and pessimist commentary, make poorish imaginative pabulum, though there seems an increasing appetite for it amongst those who, unlike _Lucas Morne_ in
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 103, August 20, 1892 Various
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They go to the _gargottes_, where they get threepence halfpennyworth of bouilli — soup, beef and vegetable — which includes the title to a liberal supply of bread.
A Tramp's Wallet stored by an English goldsmith during his wanderings in Germany and France William Duthie
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The hams and tongues seem, indeed, rather a poor halfpennyworth to this intolerable deal of sack; but this instance of Surinam privation in those days may open some glimpse at the colonial standards of comfort.
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He has a pennyworth of cold boiled (unsalted) beef, a pennyworth of bread, a halfpennyworth of cheese and a pennyworth of currant jam.
A Tramp's Wallet stored by an English goldsmith during his wanderings in Germany and France William Duthie
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Why don't you learn to wash up, instead of walkin 'about talking like three-halfpennyworth of trash?
Night Must Fall : a Play in Three Acts Emlyn Williams 1946
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But, seen in the broad sunlight of his transcendent humor, this shadow is as the halfpennyworth of bread to his own noble ocean of sack, and why should we be forever trying to force it into prominence?
Masterpieces of American Wit and Humor Thomas L. Masson 1900
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_Bread_, $1: for a family of five, for seven days, one dollar's worth of bread will give each a daily ration of 2.8 cents; and if they eat three meals a day, each may consume per meal 9.5 mills 'worth of bread, a little less than one halfpennyworth.
The People of the Abyss Jack London 1896
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No 4.5d. a day per mouth for food is coming in; no halfpennyworth of bread per meal; and, at the end of the week, no six shillings for rent.
The People of the Abyss Jack London 1896
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Having inspected the upper floors I descended to the basement, where what are called the 'Shelter men' are received at a separate entrance at 5.30 in the afternoon, and buying their penny or halfpennyworth of food, seat themselves on benches to eat.
Regeneration Henry Rider Haggard 1890
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