Sixpence (2024)

FAQs

What is the figurative meaning of sixpence? ›

"worth or costing six pennies" (early 15c.) had a figurative sense of "paltry, cheap, petty, worthless" by 1560s; sixpenny nails (early 15c.) cost so much per hundred.

Sixpence is a pre-decimalisation UK coin worth six pence or half a shilling, a small amount of money. “ Sixpence none the richer” is an idiom that means to have engaged in an unprofitable endeavour. Literally not even sixpence richer than before.

Following decimalisation, the old sixpence had a value of 21⁄2 new pence (£0.025). In 2016, new decimal sixpences (face value £0.06) began being minted by the Royal Mint as commemorative issues; these coins have been produced for each year since then, and are minted in sterling silver.

C. S. Lewis was comparing that to his belief that God has given him, and us, the gifts that we possess, and to serve him the way we should, we should do it humbly—realizing how we got the gifts in the first place.

(obsolete, British, uncountable) The value of six old pence; half of a shilling; or one-fortieth of a pound sterling. quotations ▼ Finest apples, sixpence each. (historical) A former British coin worth sixpence, first minted in 1551.

A world of tradition

' For many years, the father of the bride would slip a sixpence into his daughter's shoe before she walked down the aisle. The sixpence stood for good luck, and to show that the father wished his daughter prosperity in her marriage. Sweden has its own version of this tradition.

1. : a former British monetary unit equal to six pennies. 2. plural sixpence or sixpences : a coin worth sixpence.

My wages were four shillings and sixpence per week. It cost something like sixpence to get in. I used to get twelve shillings and sixpence a week. You'd pay sixpence to have the picture taken, then the next week you picked up the proof.

Some attribute it to John Sigismund Tanner (1705–75), a former Chief Engraver of The Royal Mint who designed a sixpence during the reign of George II (r. 1727–60), whilst another theory is that the name comes from the Anglo-Romani word 'taw no' meaning 'small one'.

The sixpence piece - now worth 2½ p - was abolished in 1980. The shilling and two-shilling coins - used for 5p and 10p - were brought out of circulation in 1990 and 1992 respectively. For about ten years after decimalisation, the term 'New Pence' was used to distinguish newly-minted coins from the old pennies.

Does sixpence still exist? ›

The sixpence (6d; /ˈsɪkspəns/), sometimes known as a tanner or half-shilling was a British coin. It was worth 6 pennies or ​2 ¹⁄₂ new pence. It has not been produced since 1970.

sixpence. noun [ C or U ] /ˈsɪks.pəns/ us. /ˈsɪks.pəns/ a small silver-coloured coin, used in the UK until 1971, that was worth six old pennies, or this amount of money.

He became a member of the Church of England – somewhat to the disappointment of Tolkien, who had hoped that he would join the Catholic Church. Lewis was a committed Anglican who upheld a largely orthodox Anglican theology, though in his apologetic writings, he made an effort to avoid espousing any one denomination.

b) used for saying that no one will find out about something bad that someone has done He could easily have taken the money and no one would have been any the wiser. → wise.

Even my genes were given to me by my parents. So, if I give back to the world, am I not just returning what it gave me in the first place? The world is sixpence none the richer for me giving of the wonderful things I have inside.

If you use a word or expression in a figurative sense, you use it with a more abstract or imaginative meaning than its ordinary literal one. ... an event that will change your route–in both the literal and figurative sense. Synonyms: symbolical, representative, abstract, allegorical More Synonyms of figurative.

Football Language: To turn on a sixpence

A sixpence was an old coin used in Britain more than 40 years ago – it was silver in colour and very small. Players who turn on a sixpence tend to have good technique and 'quick feet', that is, they move the ball quickly, while they also tend to have a low centre of gravity.

The adjective figurative comes from the Old French word figuratif, which means “metaphorical.” Any figure of speech — a statement or phrase not intended to be understood literally — is figurative. You say your hands are frozen, or you are so hungry you could eat a horse. That's being figurative.