halfpenny

< /ˈheɪ pəns/ for 2.

1. a bronze coin of the United Kingdom, equal to half a penny: use phased out in 1984.
2. the sum of half a penny.

adjective

3. of the price or value of a halfpenny.
4. of little value; worthless: a halfpenny matter.
5. British Informal. (of newspapers) sensational, especially morbidly or offensively so.

noun

1. Also called: half plural -pennies a small British coin worth half a new penny, withdrawn from circulation in 1985
2. plural -pennies an old British coin worth half an old penny
3. plural -pence the sum represented by half a penny
4. plural -pence something of negligible value
5. (modifier) having the value or price of a halfpenny
6. (modifier) of negligible value

n.

mid-13c. (though implied in Old English healfpenigwurð “halfpenny-worth”); see half + penny.