twopence
(ˈtʌpəns)
Forms: see two and penny A. 2; also 6–7 tuppens, 7–9 tuppence, 8–9 Sc. tippence; and 20 (with reference to decimal coinage) two pence, attrib. two-pence.
Since the introduction of decimal coinage in Britain in 1971 also pronounced (tuː ˈpɛns) when a sum of money is meant (as in senses 1, 2, and 6).
1. A sum of money equal to two pennies.
† penny of twopence = sense 2: see penny 3.
| 1477 Rolls of Parlt. VI. 183/1 The Grotes, Pens of two Pens, and Pens, of this Reame. 1514 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 144 To the beddell of the seid Gilde Tuppens. 1641 Sc. Acts Chas. I (1817) V. 510/1 They might sell at tuppens a groatt & Sexpens..They micht sell..the deirest for a tippens. 1772–84 Cook Voy. (1790) I. 299 They were accosted by several Indians..and one of them undertook to carry them over..at two-pence per head. 1785 Burns Holy Fair viii, A greedy glowr Black Bonnet throws, An' we maun draw our tippence. 1812 H. & J. Smith Rej. Addr., Theatre 61 Boys who long linger at the gallery-door, With pence twice five—they want but twopence more. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown i. ii, What can you expect for tuppence? 1872 Ruskin Fors Clav. (1896) I. xix. 376 Work that will pay no dividend on their twopences. |
2. a. An English silver coin of the value of two pennies: = half-groat (since 1662 coined only as Maundy money). b. A copper coin of this value issued in the reign of George III.
| c 1450 Mankind 457 in Macro Plays 17 He louyth no grotis, nor pens or to-pens. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. iii. 55 Like gilt two-pences. 1653 Walton Angler xii. 231 A piece of reed..as big about as the compass of a two pence. 1684 E. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. i. (ed. 15) 217 To scatter new-coyned two-pences in the..places where the King passes. 1712 Mus. Thoresby. (1713) 361 A very fair Canterbury Twopence [temp. Hen. VIII]. 1818 Scott Br. Lamm. xxxv, A wheen silver tippences to the poor folk. 1820 ― Let. to J. Ballantyne 28 Mar., in Lockhart, I care not a bent twopence about their quarrels. |
3. a. As type of a very small amount: now esp. in phr. (not) to care twopence. Also for twopence, very easily, with the smallest encouragement.
| 1691 Baxter Repl. Beverley 2 All our righteousness is not worth two-pence. a 1744 Bramston Art Politicks 193 He cares not two-pence for the land-tax bill. 1752 Foote Taste i. (1781) 18 It does not signify Two Pence. 1894 G. W. Appleton Co-Respondent I. 65 He asked me if you really cared twopence for Kate. 1934 R. H. Mottram Bumphrey's i. 37 I'm all heavy with that stuff. I could go to sleep for tuppence! a 1960 E. M. Forster Maurice (1973) xxvi. 132 I'd jump out of the window for twopence. |
b. fig. Applied to a person of very little worth.
| 1866 A. Sartoris Week in French Country Ho. (1902) 213 She was a wretched twopence of a woman. |
c. twopence coloured adj. phr.: orig. with reference to prints of characters for toy theatres that were sold in the early nineteenth century at one penny (1d) for black and white ones and two pennies (2d) for coloured ones; hence, excessively theatrical; cheap and gaudy.
| 1859, etc. [see penny plain adj. s.v. penny 12 c]. 1879 R. L. Stevenson Trav. with Donkey 82 If landscapes were sold, like the sheets of characters of my boyhood, one penny plain and twopence coloured, I should go to the length of twopence every day. 1887 Art Jrnl. Apr. 105/1 Picturesque melodrama..has given place to every-day drama..unsusceptible of twopence coloured treatment. 1908 E. Terry Story of my Life x. 243, I never cared much for Henry [Irving]'s Mephistopheles—a two-pence coloured part, any way. 1911 G. K. Chesterton Innocence of Father Brown xi. 304 It was a twopence coloured sort of incident. 1926 W. de la Mare Connoisseur 311 My American adventure..is of the ‘twopence coloured’ variety, rather than the ‘penny plain’. 1932 N. & Q. 27 Feb. 151/2, I have two very unusual specimens of the twopence coloured. They..have very little brush⁓work, being decorated in every possible part with foil of different colours. 1948 Eng. Stud. I. 95 The Rape of Heraclide is a magnificent specimen of the ‘twopence coloured’ style. 1966 A. L. Coburn Autobiogr. iv. 48 The toy theatre of Stevenson's childhood and mine. A penny plain and twopence coloured. 1968 Economist 9 Nov. p. v/1 Almost too much painful detail, which is of no intrinsic interest except by double proof of the horror of the whole; and perhaps slightly twopence-coloured; but brilliantly readable. 1978 Guardian Weekly 24 Sept. 20/3 A penny-dreadful dramatisation..that has been bumped up into a tuppence-coloured theatrical event by sheer production values. |
4. twopence halfpenny: a sum of money equal to two pennies and a halfpenny. Also attrib.
In attrib. use twopenny-halfpenny was more usual (see after next word), but in Sc. twopence-halfpenny was regular when the precise sum was intended, as in a twopence-halfpenny stamp.
| 16.. Black Bk. Admiralty (Rolls) I. 13 Each sea boy shall have twopence halfpenny per diem. 1849 Thackeray Pendennis xl, Twopence-halfpenny for your thoughts. 1890 Le Gallienne Meredith 155 He does not weave two-pence-halfpenny mysteries. |
5. herb twopence: name given by Turner to the plant Lysimachia Nummularia, also called two-penny grass (see next, 3) or moneywort, from its pairs of rounded leaves.
| 1548 Turner Names of Herbes H ij, Centimorbia otherwise called Nummularia..may be called in englishe Herbe .ij. pence or two penigrasse because it hath two and two leaues standyng together of ech syde of the stalke lyke pence. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. clxxxix. 505 Nummularia..herbe Two pence, and Two pennie grasse. 1756 Watson in Phil. Trans. XLIX. 815 The Nummularia, Moneywort, or Herb Twopence. 1861 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. IV. 238 Creeping Loosestrife, Moneywort, or Herb-Twopence. |
6. attrib. (= next, 1, 2) and Comb. Cf. twopenny a. 1 a.)
| 1762 Sterne Tr. Shandy V. xxxix, 'Tis not two-pence matter. 1827 Scott Two Drovers ii, Robin..proceeded to light his pipe, and call for a pint of twopenny. ‘We have no twopence ale’, answered..the landlord. 1889 Stevenson Let. to S. Colvin 2 Dec., If we only had twopenceworth of wind. 1972 J. Wilson Hide & Seek ii. 28 Alice found she had a two-pence piece in the pocket of her jeans. 1976 Deakin & Willis Johnny go Home ii. 50 Annie called him from a coin box..using a two-pence piece that had been given her. 1979 M. Page Pilate Plot vi. 94 Dick Goddard pushed a two-pence coin into the slot. |