English

Adjective

tuppenny ‎(not comparable)

1. (Britain, Australia, becoming old-fashioned) Literally, worth tuppence (two pence); of little value or status.
   • Pop Goes the Weasel, a well-known English nursery rhyme

     Half a pound of tuppenny rice,
     Half a pound of treacle.
     That’s the way the money goes,
     Pop! goes the weasel.

   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1943, Chapter XI, p. 184,

     Then they went off to prepare for the journey […] , Peter filling his six-penny pipe with tuppenny tobacco.

Noun

tuppenny ‎(plural tuppennies)

1. (Britain, dated, juvenile) In the children's game of leapfrog, the head (perhaps named from a tuppenny loaf).
   • W. S. Gilbert, The Gondoliers

     A Lord High Chancellor is a personage of great dignity, who should never, under any circumstances, place himself in the position of being told to tuck in his tuppenny, except by noblemen of his own rank.

Derived terms

• tuppenny-ha'penny