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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

threepenny bit en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • (UK) audio
  • /ˈθɹʌpəni bɪt/ (UK)

Meanings

  1. (historical) A former (pre-decimalisation) British or Irish coin worth three old pennies.
    • All day long he worked, cutting out pennies and shillings and half-crowns and threepenny-bits. 1934, P[amela] L[yndon] Travers, “East Wind”, in Mary Poppins (Mary Poppins; 1), London: Gerald Howe Ltd […], →OCLC, pages 3–4:
  2. (Cockney, slang) A woman's breast; a tit.
    • All these skinny modern chicks with their perky threepenny bits do nothing for me. 1983, Robert Drewe, The Bodysurfers, Penguin, published 2009, page 86:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
threepenny bits Number=Plur lexicographic
threepenny-bit alternative lexicographic
three-penny bit alternative lexicographic

Synonyms

threepence · thruppence