Crossword clues for sixpence
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Sixpence \Six"pence\, n.; pl. Sixpences. An English silver coin of the value of six pennies; half a shilling, or about twelve cents.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
n. 1 (label en obsolete British uncountable) The value of six old pence; half of a shilling; or one-fortieth of a pound sterling. 2 (label en historical) A former British coin worth sixpence
WordNet
n. a small coin of the United Kingdom worth six pennies; not minted since 1970 [syn: tanner]
Wikipedia
Sixpence may refer to:
- Sixpence (British coin)
- Sixpence (Irish coin)
- Sixpence (Australian), a coin minted in Australia until 1963
- Sixpence None the Richer, an American pop/rock band
- Flat cap, a rounded cap with a brim, also called a sixpence
The sixpence (6d, ) coin was a subdivision of the pre-decimal Irish pound, worth of a pound or of a shilling. The Irish name (reul) is derived from the Spanish real.
The coin was originally struck in nickel, like the threepence coin, and was very well wearing. The metal was changed to cupronickel in 1942 as nickel increased in value; this coin, which consisted of 75% copper and 25% nickel, was not as well-wearing. The coin measured in diameter and a weighed 4.53593 grams.
Five early coins were minted featuring a design by Publio Morbiducci, which depict the Wolfhound's head looking back; these coins are quite valuable, estimated at several thousand euro – they remain in the hands of collectors and were never released to circulation.
The general design of the coin was by English artist Percy Metcalfe. The obverse featured the Irish harp. From 1928 to 1937 the date was split either side of the harp with the name Saorstát Éireann circling around. From 1938 to 1969 the inscription changed to Éire on the left of the harp and the date on the right. It has been suggested by some that the greyhound depicted is Master McGrath, a famous coursing greyhound raised in County Waterford. Although the frieze of Master McGrath on the Master McGrath monument in Waterford, the only public monument in Ireland to a greyhound, does bear some similarity to Metcalfe's design, there is no evidence to suggest that the animal on the coin is anything other than a generic depiction.
It was expected that this coin would circulate alongside the new decimal coins, with a value of new pence as in the United Kingdom. With this in mind the Central Bank of Ireland continued to have the coin minted, last dated 1969, while minting decimal coins. However, the coin ended up being withdrawn instead, never to become a decimal-based coin; it remains the last pre-decimal coin to come off the production run.
The sixpence (6d; ), sometimes known as a tanner or sixpenny bit, was a coin worth one-fortieth of a pound sterling, or six pence. It was first minted in the reign of Edward VI and circulated until 1980. Following decimalisation in 1971 it had a value of new pence. The coin was made from silver from its introduction in 1551 to 1947, and thereafter in cupronickel.
Prior to Decimal Day in 1971 there were 240 pence in one pound sterling. Twelve pence made a shilling, and twenty shillings made a pound. Values less than a pound were usually written in shillings and pence, e.g. 42 old pence (p) would be three shillings and sixpence (3/6), often pronounced "three and six". Values of less than a shilling were simply written in terms of pence, e.g. eight pence would be 8d.
The Australian sixpence was a coin used in the Commonwealth of Australia prior to the decimalisation of the Australian currency in 1966. The pre-decimal sixpence was minted from 1910 until 1963, excluding the years 1913, 1915, 1929–33 inclusive, 1937, 1947 and 1949.
The sixpence was the only pre-decimal Australian coin which never had the design on its reverse altered. That is especially surprising given that the coat of arms depicted was obsolete for almost all of that time, having been superseded by the current one in 1912.
During World War II, between 1942 and 1944, sixpence production was supplemented by coinage produced by two branches of the United States Mint. Coins struck at the San Francisco mint (1942–1944) carry a small S below the coat of arms, while those from the Denver mint (1942–1943) have a small D in the same place.
From 1910 to 1945 Australian sixpences were of sterling silver (0.925 fine) with 7.5% copper; from 1946 to 1963 they were reduced to 0.500 fine silver which is made from 50% silver, 40% copper, 5% nickel and 5% zinc.
After decimalisation on 14 February 1966, the sixpence continued to circulate at the value of 5¢, along with new 5¢ coins of the same size and weight.
Usage examples of "sixpence".
Beale could introduce the little girl only, alas, by revealing to her so attractive, so enthralling a name: the side-shows, each time, were sixpence apiece, and the fond allegiance enjoyed by the elder of our pair had been established from the earliest time in spite of a paucity of sixpences.
Give him sixpence, or five shillings, or five pound ten--you are arithmeticians, and I am not--and get rid of him!
And Boshy, after the manner of all victors, unsatiated with homage, troubled incessantly how to make Pat the Jew, Pat the Dry Sixpence, bow the knee.
Was it to be expected that I should ride about the villages on Danseuse trawling for the Idle and sending them packing to the looms, succouring the Impotent with sixpences and chicken legs?
Ikey returned the copper coin to his dumby and found a silver sixpence which he handed backwards to the boy.
I blush to say that my venerated ancestor received from Goodman Hancock the painfully exiguous sum of no pounds, no shillings, and sixpence.
I was at Dungeon Ghyll, a little ravine among the English lakes, down which trickles an exceedingly small stream of water, but which is, nevertheless, very picturesque,--as I followed the old man who shows it for a sixpence, he asked if we had come a long way.
Old hens were held firmly at sixpence, and it is my experience that they always have to be, at whatever price.
I had a quarrel with a man about sixpence that he owed me, and knocked him over with my head, forgetting to take my hat off first.
I will even take sixpence in earnest of the berrord and lead his apes into hell.
I said I understood that a Mastership was an article the University could not do under about five pounds, and that I was not disposed to go sixpence higher than three ten.
It lay in his hand, and amounted to twelve shillings, a sixpence, two threepenny bits, and four pennies.
They shake out the threepenny bits and sixpences and coax out the pennies with the blade of a knife.
Amy was pleased to see, however, that there was none of the tense atmosphere she would expect from high gaming, and the coins in use were mainly pennies, thruppences, and sixpences.
Darwin was perfectly innocent of any intention of getting rid of mind, and did not, probably, care the toss of sixpence whether the universe was instinct with mind or no - what he did care about was carrying off the palm in the matter of descent with modification, and the distinctive feature was an adjunct with which his nervous, sensitive, Gladstonian nature would not allow him to dispense.