penny
1. (in Britain) a bronze coin having a value equal to one hundredth of a pound
2. (in Britain before 1971) a bronze or copper coin having a value equal to one twelfth of a shilling or one two-hundred-and-fortieth of a pound
3. a former monetary unit of the Republic of Ireland worth one hundredth of a pound
4. (in the US and Canada) a cent
5. a coin of similar value, as used in several other countries
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
penny, penny-size
1. A unit denoting the length of a nail; for the
common nail, and others which have been standardized, it also is an indication of the shank and head diameter.
2. (Abbr. d) A suffix indicating the size of a nail; the size specifies the length of the nail and the number of nails per pound, e.g., a 2d nail is 1 in. long and there are 875 per pound.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
penny
finding one by chance in street brings good luck. [Western Folklore: Misc.]
Allusions—Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.