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Webster 1828 Edition
Truepenny
TRUEPENNY
,Noun.
Definition 2024
truepenny
truepenny
See also: true-penny
English
Alternative forms
Noun
truepenny (plural truepennies)
- (obsolete, sometimes capitalized) An honest, reliable fellow.
- 1603, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 1, sc. 5:
- Hamlet: . . . Give me one poor request.
- Horatio: What is't, my lord? we will.
- Hamlet: Never make known what you have seen to-night. . . .Indeed, upon my sword, indeed.
- Ghost: [Beneath] Swear.
- Hamlet: Ah, ha, boy! say'st thou so? art thou there, truepenny?
- Come on—you hear this fellow in the cellarage—
- Consent to swear.
- 1820, Sir Walter Scott, The Monastery, ch. 14:
- "Ha!" said Christie, "art thou there, old Truepenny? here, stable me these steeds, and see them well bedded."
- 1870, Wilkie Collins, Man and Wife, ch. 25:
- "Duncan! you are, what I call, a clear-minded man. Well worth thinking of, old Truepenny!"
- 1916, Sherwood Anderson, Windy McPherson's Son, ch. 3:
- "Hear me, Father Almighty. . . . Are you there, old Truepenny?"
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)
- 1603, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 1, sc. 5:
Usage notes
- Not uncommonly used by literary authors as an echo of Shakespeare's usage in Hamlet, complete with the phrase Art thou there?.
References
- truepenny at OneLook Dictionary Search