sixpence

/'sikspəns/

Thân thiện

A child finds a shiny sixpence on the garden path.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • A small coin of the United Kingdom worth six pennies: A former British coin, made of silver and later cupronickel, with a value of six old pence (6d), equivalent to half a shilling or 2.5 new pence in decimal currency. It was demonetized and ceased to be minted in 1970.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • He found an old sixpence in his grandfather's coin collection.
  • Before decimalization, a sixpence was a common coin in circulation.
  • The idiom "to turn on a sixpence" refers to the ability to change direction very quickly.

Advanced Usage

• "To turn on a sixpence": An idiom meaning to change direction or opinion very swiftly and within a very small space.
  • The new sports car can turn on a sixpence.
• "A sixpence in her shoe": A reference to a traditional good luck charm for a bride, where a sixpence is placed in the bride's shoe for wealth and happiness.
  • According to the old rhyme, the bride should have "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a sixpence in her shoe."

Variants and Related Words

• Tanner (n): A colloquial or slang term for a sixpence coin.
  • It cost me a tanner in the old days.
• Sixpenny (adj): Costing or valued at sixpence.
  • He bought a sixpenny nail.

Synonyms

• Tanner: (Informal/British) A sixpence coin.
• Half-shilling: (Historical) Refers to its value in the pre-decimal system.

Related Phrases

• Not worth a brass sixpence: An idiom meaning completely worthless.
  • His promises are not worth a brass sixpence.
• To look twice at a sixpence: To be very careful with money, to be frugal.
  • She looks twice at a sixpence before spending it.

Học thuật

Noun

1. a small coin of the United Kingdom worth six pennies; not minted since 1970

Từ đồng nghĩa

• tanner