threepenny bit

threepenny bit

See also: threepenny-bit

English

Alternative forms

• threepenny-bit

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈθɹʌpəni bɪt/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Noun

threepenny bit (plural threepenny bits)

1. (historical) A former (pre-decimalisation) British coin worth three old pennies.
   • 1981, P. L. Travers, Mary Poppins, revised edition, chapter 1:

     All day he worked, cutting out pennies and shillings and half-crowns and threepenny-bits.

2. (Cockney rhyming slang) A woman's breast; a tit.
   • 1983, Robert Drewe, The Bodysurfers, Penguin 2009, p. 86:

     All these skinny modern chicks with their perky threepenny bits do nothing for me.

Synonyms

• threepence, thruppence