eightpenny

[ eyt-pen-ee ]

adjective

1. noting a nail 2½ inches (6.4 centimeters) long.
2. costing or amounting to the sum of eight pennies. : 8d

Word History and Origins

Origin of eightpenny¹

First recorded in 1490–1500; eight + penny ( def 6 ) (so called because originally one paid eight British pennies for a hundred nails; the term later referred to the size of the nail)

Example Sentences

The large fivepenny, sixpenny, eightpenny, and shilling often had unusually wide margins when perforated.

From Project Gutenberg

An eight-shilling meal stands out, among eightpenny teas, as a rare extravagance….

From Project Gutenberg

Even on ordinary days those low-ceiled dining-rooms, stretching far back from the street in a complicated vista of interiors, were apt to be crowded; for the quality of the eightpenny dinner could be relied upon.

From Project Gutenberg

It was when you told me to put the eightpenny scuttle in Miss Jenkins' room.

From Project Gutenberg

If the ghost of his grandfather, Sir, was to rise before him this minute, he'd ask him for the loan of his acceptance on an eightpenny stamp.'

From Project Gutenberg