Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun UK
Halfpennyworth . - noun UK, slang A
silly orfoolish person. - noun UK, slang A thing of
little value .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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In any event, it didn't make a ha'porth of difference.
Fiancée 2010
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Not that it made a ha'porth of difference: they'd seen what they'd seen, and held by it.
Watershed 2010
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Given the amount of work that's been done ...and done well...on this house by these builders, why spoil the ship for a ha'porth of tar as they say?
Fizzing. Spinningfishwife 2008
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Given the amount of work that's been done ...and done well...on this house by these builders, why spoil the ship for a ha'porth of tar as they say?
Archive 2008-03-01 Spinningfishwife 2008
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It's because MsR is so classy that I know that whatever underwear I buy her won't make a ha'porth of difference to my prospect of, as you so quaintly put it, 'ravishing her'.
Ms R is all tied up Ms Robinson 2008
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Portuguese premier José Socrates also contributed his ha'porth, pronouncing: "The Portuguese presidency has received a mandate to produce a new treaty, and in the mandate it doesn't say 'oh, by the way, you can revise the mandate."
Archive 2007-07-01 Richard 2007
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Portuguese premier José Socrates also contributed his ha'porth, pronouncing: "The Portuguese presidency has received a mandate to produce a new treaty, and in the mandate it doesn't say 'oh, by the way, you can revise the mandate."
Wising up Richard 2007
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To add to the confusion, we now have the intervention of Austrian chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, who has added his ha'porth to the debate by proclaiming that only a "strict" double majority would ensure equality among European Union member states.
Confusion reigns Richard 2004
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And what's more, he hasn't a ha'porth of belief in the Heavenly Creator, who made us out of earthly clay; but he says it's all the work of nature even to the last beast.
The Possessed 2003
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Not that it made a ha'porth of difference: they'd seen what they'd seen, and held by it.
Flashman And The Tiger Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925- 1999
chained_bear commented on the word ha'porth
If I had to guess, I would say "half-penny-worth," but I won't guess. Here's a usage:
"'We have hurried so much already that it would be a pity to spoil the ship with a ha'porth of tar at this stage.'"
--Patrick O'Brian, The Far Side of the World, 82
February 20, 2008
gangerh commented on the word ha'porth
You guess right c_b. I recall using the word during my childtime. We had a coin, a halfpenny piece. Half a penny, of course. Shortened to a ha'penny (pronounced 'haypenny' or 'haypnee'). So from 'halfpenny worth' to 'ha'penny worth' to 'ha'p'orth' to 'ha'porth' (pronounced 'hayperth'). At the time you would get 480 'haypnies' to the pound sterling! I calculate that a ha'porth equivalent now is 0.20833rec... of a (new) UK penny! Not a lot of tar.
February 20, 2008