| 释义 |
twopenny, a. and n.|ˈtʌpənɪ|
Forms: see two and penny; also 9 tuppeny; Sc. 8 tippony, tippanny, 8–9 tippenny, tippeny, 9 tip'ny.
A. adj.
1. a. Of the value of, amounting to, or costing twopence.
twopenny faith, the name by which Archbishop Hamilton's tract, Ane Godlie Exhortatioun, etc., published in 1559, was popularly known in Scotland.
1532Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. VI. 156 Item, for vj scoir tuapenny breid..xx s. 1558–9Knox Hist. Ref. i. Wks. (1846) I. 291 The Bischoppis..sett furth somewhat in print, which of the People was called ‘The Twa-penny Fayth’. 1589Nashe Anat. Absurditie 17 The sum of their diuinitie consists in twopennie Catichismes. 1603H. Crosse Vertues Commw. (1878) 116 For a two-penny almes he may be throughly taught and made a perfect good scholler. 1625Massinger New Way iii. ii, Even starv'd for want of two⁓penny chops. 1705Lond. Gaz. No. 4107/4 A Sable Tippet, with a black Two-peny Ribbon. 1825Jefferson Autobiog. Wks. 1859 I. 106 A two-penny duty on tea. 1852Thackeray Esmond i. ii, His nephew slunk by..to his twopenny ordinary. 1873Ruskin Fors Clav. (1896) II. xxxviii. 295 People will eat twopenny herrings..when they wouldn't touch half-penny ones.
(b) twopenny piece, any coin of the value of twopence (cf. twopence 2); in mod. use (freq. pronounced |ˈtuːˌpɛnɪ|), a bronze coin first issued in Britain with the introduction of decimal currency in 1971.
1607E. Topsell Foure-Footed Beasts 358 A round peece of leather, as broad as a two penny peece. 1907Westm. Gaz. 11 Nov. 8/2 The same firm was authorised by George III to manufacture penny and twopenny pieces. 1972A. Ross London Assignment 65 The old witch outside began to rap on the glass door [of the telephone kiosk] with her tuppenny pieces. 1974[see phone v. a]. 1976Daily Tel. 5 Nov. 13/6 There were plastic bags of tuppenny pieces from current juniors who had held raffles in ‘break’. 1979J. Scott Clutch of Vipers viii. 141 The chunk as the Twopenny piece fell.
b. Involving an outlay of twopence; for the use of or admission to which there is a charge of twopence.
twopenny tube, a popular name for the Central London Railway (see tube n. 7 b), on which the fare was originally twopence for any distance.
1599Contract building Globe Theatre in Henslowe Papers (1907) 6 The gentlemens roomes and Twoepennie roomes. 1601B. Jonson Poetaster v. i, In taverns, two-penny rooms, tyring houses. 1765Chron. in Ann. Reg. 70/1 Letting out two-penny lodgings. 1768Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. 41 He..sits among his fellow topers at the two-penny club. 1814J. Boswell in Songs Justiciary Opera (1816) 9 Mine's a tippeny eatin house. 1831D. E. Williams Life & Corr. Sir T. Lawrence II. 23 Sources of petty gains—mere two-penny shows. 1900[see tube n. 7 b]. 1903McNeill Egregious English 199 They saw Peter Robinson's and the tuppenny tube.
c. twopenny ale (or twopenny beer), a quality of ale originally sold at twopence per quart; in Scotland, at twopence a Scotch pint (= 3 imperial pints).
1710Lond. Gaz. No. 4668/1 Every Barrel of Twopenny Ale. 1798W. Hutton Autobiog. 6 My father treated us with a quart of twopenny beer. 1819Scott Leg. Montrose iv, A huge barrel of twopenny ale.
d. twopenny post: the London post (1801–1839) for conveyance of letters, etc. at an ordinary charge of twopence each. Also attrib., as twopenny postman, etc.
1797–8Jane Austen Sense & Sens. xxvi, Marianne..requested the footman..to get that letter conveyed..to the two-penny post. 1838Dickens O. Twist xxix, To make an appointment by the twopenny post. 1887T. A. Trollope What I remember I. ii. 44 The twopenny post was considered an immense boon to Londoners.
1812L. Hunt in Examiner 25 May 321/1 The two-penny postmen should ride about upon elephants. 1813Moore (title) Intercepted Letters; or, The Twopenny Post-Bag. 1830Parl. Papers XIII. 46 The twopenny-post riders convey greater weights than the general-post riders.
e. Of iron: Costing twopence per pound.
1858Greener Gunnery 239 Making Double and Single Guns, with ‘Twopenny’ or ‘Wedgebury Skelp Iron’.
† f. twopenny rope: a cheap lodging-house (see quot. 1836). Obs.
1836[see rope n.1 2 f]. 1850[see lie-down s.v. lie n.2 6].
g. twopenny library (Hist.): a lending library, usu. operated from a shop, from which a book could be borrowed for twopence a week.
1935W. G. Taylor in J. Hampden Bk. World 85 That the ‘reading public’ is growing rapidly seems evident from the growth of the ‘twopenny library’. 1942J. B. Priestley Black-Out in Gretley iii. 23 Twopenny libraries bright with book jackets. 1963‘R. Findlater’ What are Writers Worth? 7 The ‘twopenny libraries’ which spread rapidly throughout the country before the war, and have vanished nearly as quickly in the past decade. 1978S. Hodges Gollancz v. 115 The twopenny libraries..had come into their own..in the mid-thirties.
2. fig. as a disparaging epithet: Of very little value; paltry, trumpery, trifling, worthless; esp. in phr. (not) to care (or give) a twopenny damn (or hang); also ellipt.
1560Jewel Corr. Cole I iv, To make the people thinke that we reade nothyng els but ij. penny doctoures, as ye cal them. 1643S. Marshall Lett. 5 Even in a two-peny matter. 1739Cibber Apol. (1756) I. 243 Twopenny criticks must live as well as eighteenpenny authors. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair lxi, This woman, with her twopenny gentility. 1897W. S. Maugham Liza of Lambeth xi. 215, I don't care a twopenny 'ang for all them blokes. 1898R. Fry Let. 5 Sept. (1972) I. 172 The date for Bissolo's death, for which I don't care just now a tuppenny damn. 1924Lawrence & Skinner Boy in Bush 58, I don't believe she cares a tuppenny for 'em. 1980D. K. Cameron Willie Gavin ix. 86 It was rich in its lairds, men who..gave not a tuppeny damn..for anybody.
b. twopenny upright, a prostitute. slang.
1958L. Durrell Balthazar ii. 41 A little old tart, button-eyed and razor-nosed—a tart of the Waterloo Bridge epoch, a veritable Tuppeny Upright. 1978Maledicta II. 258 At the turn of the century, an Iowa woman was awarded $200 for being called a ‘whore’, while in England, at about the same time, a woman was denied any award for being called a ‘two-penny upright’.
†3. twopenny grass, Herb twopence (see prec. 5).
1548,1597[see twopence 5]. 1578Lyte Dodoens i. liv. 78 This herbe is now called..in English..two penny grasse.
†4. Applied to a ward in a prison. (The allusion is obscure.) Obs. rare—1.
1605Chapman, etc. Eastward Hoe v. i. G iv b, I never knew..Prisoners..more deuout. They will sit you vp all night singing of Psalmes,..onely, Securitie sings a note too high, sometimes, because hee lyes i' the Two-penny ward, farre off, and cannot take his tune.
B. n. (ellipt. use of the adj.)
1. a. Short for twopenny ale: see 1 c above.
1711Ramsay On Maggy Johnstoun i, To braw tippony bid adieu. 1729Dulcinead 5 note, The Old Swan in the Butcher-Row, noted for good Twopenny. 1762Bp. Forbes Jrnl. (1886) 181 To drink Tippanny and Whiskie. 1815Scott Guy M. vi, The gossip over the good twopenny in every alehouse. 1858M. Porteous Souter Johnny 13 To appease their ‘lowin' drouth’ either with the Smith's ‘tippeny’ or the Landlord's ‘strong drink’.
b. Short for twopenny post or letter: see 1 d above.
1818Keats Let. Oct. (1931) I. 263 Haslam..has taken all the Letters except this sheet, which I shall send him by the Twopenny. 1832Dickens Let. ? Aug. (1965) I. 9 The place has no other name, but a twopenny directed as above will no doubt find us.
2. A twopenny piece (= twopence 2), or the sum of twopence.
1736Drake Eboracum i. vi. 189 Pennyes or two pennyes, halfpennyes or farthings.
3. A jocular name for a child.
1844M. Howitt My Own Story viii, ‘Well, little Twopenny’... I..did not like to be called ‘little Twopenny’.
4. slang. The head. [See quot. 1931.]
1859in Hotten Dict. Slang. 1889W. S. Gilbert Gondoliers ii. 34 A Lord High Archbishop might tell a Lord High Chancellor to tuck in his tuppenny, but certainly not a cook. 1906Galsworthy Man of Property iii. iv. 321 Fast after him walked George. If the fellow meant to put his ‘twopenny’ under a bus, he would stop it if he could! 1928C. E. Montague Action 150 ‘Into it, Jemmy’, I yelled. ‘Into the sewer and tuck in your tuppenny.’ 1931‘G. Orwell’ Coll. Essays (1968) I. 71 The hop-pickers..also used the abbreviated rhyming slang, e.g. ‘Use your twopenny’ for ‘Use your head’. This is arrived at like this: head, loaf of bread, loaf, twopenny loaf, twopenny.
So twopenny-halfpenny |ˌtʌpənɪˈheɪpənɪ| a., of the value of twopence-halfpenny; usually fig. as an epithet of disparagement (cf. A. 2 above).
1809Southey in Robberds Mem. W. Taylor (1843) II. 268 Some little dirty twopenny-halfpenny piece of roguery. 1827Lytton Pelham II. xii, He..filched a twopenny-halfpenny gilt-chain out of..the pawnbroker's window. 1872H. Kingsley Hornby Mills I. 30 They had lost a law-suit, a twopenny-halfpenny squabble about a trespass. Mod. A twopenny-halfpenny stamp. |
