† ˈpenny-ˌfather Obs.
[f. penny + father.]
A man who is too careful of his pence; an old miser, a niggard, skinflint, penurious fellow.
| 1549 Chaloner Erasmus on Folly K iij, That pennie⁓father skrapeth it togethers bothe by God and by the divell. 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utopia ii. (1895) 183 Knowing them to be suche nigeshe penny fathers, that they be sure..not the worthe of one farthinge of that heape of gold shall come to them. 1594 Drayton Idea 128 The Sonne of some rich Penny-father, Who..Leaves to his Sonne all he had heap'd together. 1694 Motteux Rabelais, Pantagr. Prognost. v. 234 Pinch-crusts, Hold-fasts, Michers, and Penny⁓fathers. |