twopenny-halfpenny

English

Alternative forms

• two-penny-half-penny, twopenny-ha'penny

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌtʌp(ə)ni ˈheɪp(ə)ni/

Adjective

twopenny-halfpenny (not comparable)

1. (dated, informal) Petty, insignificant.
   • 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I:

     Good heavens! and I was going to take charge of a two-penny-half-penny river-steamboat with a penny whistle attached!

   • 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter L, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC, page 264:

     Poor devil, he's gone to the dogs altogether. He's got some twopenny-halfpenny job in the medical at Alexandria—sanitary officer or something like that. I'm told he lives with an ugly old Greek woman and has half a dozen scrofulous kids.