Pennisetum 
the tropics funiish a nutritious grain. (See cattail millet 
(under miUel), bajra?, karemjia. ) Others are cultivated for 
ornament, under the name of feather-grass. 
pennistone, . See penistone. 
pennite (pen'it), . [< Pennsylvania) + -> 2 .] 
A hydrous carbonate of calcium and magne- 
sium occurring as a globular incrustation on 
serpentine and chromite at Texas in Pennsyl- 
vania. 
penniveined (pen'i-vand), a. [< L. penna, fea- 
ther, + E. rein.'] In lot., same as ptnninened. 
pennon (peu'on), n. [Early mod. E. also penon; 
< ME. penon, "pcnoiin, pynoun, < OF. pennon, F. 
pennon = Pr. pent), penon = Sp. 
pendon = Pg. pendSo = It. pennant, 
a banner, pennon, orig. (as in It.) 
a great plume or bunch of feathers, 
aug. of OF. penne = It. penna, a 
wing, feather : see pen%. Of. pinion^, 
ult. identical with pennon and pen- 
nant (a later form).] 1. A flag; an 
ensign ; especially, in Europe in the 
middle ages, the flag of the knight 
bachelor, or knight who had not yet reached 
the dignity of banneret. It is usually described 
as being pointed at the fly, but the swallow-tail 
flag is also described as a pennon. 
By his baner born is his penaun [var. pynoun] 
Of gold ful riche, in which ther was ybete 
The Mynotaur which that he slough in Crete. 
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 
4376 
the variations and irregularities in the forms 
indicate that the actual sense of the radical 
element was not known by the later users, and 
thus would go to support a foreign origin, and 
to favor the suggested etym. from pand, pawn, 
pledge: see pawn 1 , panel.] If. A silver coin 
weighing 22| grains, or the 240th part of a Tower 
pound. It corresponded to the Roman denarius, and 
was also called easterling. (See easterliny, n., 2.) In 1346 
penny-fee 
Come, friar, I will shake him from his dumps. 
(Comes forward.) 
How cheer you, sir? a penny for your thought. 
Greene, Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay. 
At first pennyt, at first bid or offer. 
There went but one of two hundred tunnes, who stayed 
in the Conntrey about six weeks, which with eight and 
thirty men and boies had her fraught, which she sold at 
the first penny for 2100. besides the Furres. 
Capt. John Smith, Works, II. 219. 
Clean as a penny, clean and bright. Compare fine as 
fitepence, under Jinel. (Dames.) 
I will go as I am, for. though ordinary, I am as clean at 
a penny, though I say it. Richardson, Pamela, II. 56. 
Lord Baltimore penny, a penny coined by Lord Balti- 
more, who established a Maryland mint in London in 1659. 
Medieval 
Knight's 
Pennon. 
Obverse. Reverse. 
Silver Penny of Edward III., in the British Museum. 
(Size of the original.) 
ita weight was reduced to 20 grains. Similar coins called 
pennies were in use in Scotland and Ireland. [In early 
times any coin could be called a penny. Thus, the gold 
coins called Aorfm, struck by order of Edward III. in 1343, 
were called by the people gold pennies, and the half-florins 
and quarter-florins respectively gold halfpennies and gold 
farthings. ] 
& left the Inglis thelond on a forward [bargain] dere 
To pay ilk a hede a peny to tham bi gere. 
Rob. of Brunne, p. 8. 
For a (KM!/ that ye lese on this side, ye shall Wynne tweyn 
High on his pointed lance his pennon bore 
His Cretan flght, the conquer'd Minotaur. 
Druden, Pal. and Arc., i. 115. 
2. In her., in modern ceremonial, as at funer- 
als, a long and narrow flag, usually from four to 
five feet long, on which are depicted the own- 
er's arms or a part of them, as the crest and 
motto. 3f. A pinion; awing. 
Fluttering his pennons vain, plumb down he drops 
Ten thousand fathom deep. Milton, P. L., ii. 933. 
pennoncel, pennoncelle (pen'ou-sel), n. [< OF. 
pennoncel, dim. of pennon, a pennon : see pen- 
non. Cf.penceP, a contracted form of jtennon- 
cel.'] 1. Same &s pennon, 1. 2. Inner., avery 
small flag resembling a pennon in shape and 
use. 
pennoncier (pen'on-ser), . [OF. ,< pennon, a 
pennon: see pennon.'] A knight who had not 
attained the dignity of banneret. Also called 
knight pennoncier. See knight, 3. 
pennoned (peu'pnd), a. [< pennon + -ed 2 .] 
Bearing a pennon. 
The grass, whose pennoned spear 
Leans on the narrow graves. 
0. W. Holmes, Cambridge Churchyard. 
pennopluma (pen-o-plo'ma), m. [NL.: seepen- 
noplume.'] Same as plumule. 
pcnnoplunie (pen'o-plom), n. [< NL. pennoplu- 
ma, prop, "penniptuma, < L. penna, a wing, + 
pluma, a feather.] A plumule. 
penn'orth (pen'ferth), n. A colloquial con- 
traction of pennyworth. 
Pennsylvania Dutch. See Dutch. 
Pennsylvanian (pen-sil-va'ni-an), a. and n. [< 
Pennsylvania (see def.) + -an.'] I. a. Of or 
pertaining to Pennsylvania, one of the Middle 
States of the United States, lying south of New 
York and west of New Jersey. 
II. . A native or an inhabitant of Pennsyl- 
vania. 
penny (pen'i), n.; pi. pennies (-iz), number of 
coins, pence (pens), amount of pennies in val- 
ue. [Early mod. E. also pennie, peny, penie; < 
ME. peny, penie, peni,pani(f\.penies, pens, pans, 
pans), < AS. penig, pennig, peneg, prop, with 
suffix -ing, pening, peninge, peninc, peening, pen- 
ning, pending, a penny (tr. L. denarius, nummus, 
as), a silver coin, the 240th part of a pound, also 
(in forms peneg and pening) a pennyweight, 
the 24th part of an ounce, = OS. penning = 
OFries. penning, penneng, pennig, panning, pan- 
neng, pannig = D. penning = MLG. penning (in 
comp. penninge-, penne-, pen-) = OHG. phantine, 
phending, pfentinc, phenning, pending, MHG. 
phenninc, pfenninc, pfennig, G. pfenning, pfennig 
= Icel. penniugr, mod. peningr = Sw. penning = 
D&n. penning, a penny (Icel. pi. penningar = Sw. 
jx'ii n ingar, money, = Dan. contr. penge, money) ; 
with suffix -ing3 (used also in other designations 
of coins, namely farthing, shilling), from a base 
*pand (by umlaut pend-), generally explained 
as 'pledge,' = OFries. pand = D. pand = MLG. 
pant = OHG. MHG. pliant, pfant, G. pfand = 
Icel. petntr = Sw. Dan. pant, a pledge, pawn; a 
penny in this view being a piece of money given 
as a pledge instead of some particular article 
of property. This view is not satisfactory ; but 
ion A'v ajsfiitf 
m on that side. 
Reverse. 
Penny of George III., in the British Museum 
(Size of the original.) 
, 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 142. 
There caste Ju- 
das the SO Pens be- 
fore hem, and seyde 
that he hadde syn- 
ned, betrayenge 
oure Lord. 
Mandemtte, Trav- 
[els, p. 93. 
2. In Great Brit- 
ain, a copper 
(since 1860 
bronze) token 
coin, of which 
twelve are 
equal to a shil- 
ling and 240 to a 
pound sterling. 
It weighs 145.833 
grains troy, and is 
worth in metal 
about one fourth 
of ita face-value. 
It is about equiva- 
lent to two cents 
United States cur- 
rency. Copper 
pennies were first 
struck in the time 
of Jamea I. (about 
1609). In Scotland 
the value of the old 
penny was only one 
twelfth of a penny 
sterling, the pound 
being equal to 20 
pence sterling. Ab- 
breviated d. (for de- 
narius). 
Where the same, with a little difference of place, is a 
pound, shilling, or penie, one, ten, or an hundred. 
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 84. 
Perjuries are common as bad pence. 
Cowper, Expostulation, 1. 387. 
3. In the United States, a cent. [Colloq.] 
4. An insignificant coin or value ; a small sum. 
I will not lend thee a penny. Shak. , M. W. of W., ii. 2. 1. 
5. Money in general : as, it cost a pretty penny 
(a good round sum); to turn an honest penny. 
Lo, how pans purchasede f aire places and drede, 
That rote is of robbers the richesse with-ynne ! 
For he that gadereth so his good god no-thyng preiseth. 
Piers Plmuman (C), xiii. 246. 
What penny hath Rome borne, 
What men provided ? Shak., K. John, v. 2. 96. 
That eternal want of pence 
_ * Which vexes public men. 
Tennyson, Will Waterproof. 
Shah Sujali and Shere All cost India a pretty penny, as 
we say in Scotland ; but invasions like thatof Ahmed Shah 
Dourani would have cost her a good deal more. 
Contemporary Rev., LI. 17. 
6. Pound : only in composition, in the phrases 
fourpenny, sixpenny, eiyhtpenny, tenpenny nails, 
designating nails of such sizes that 1,000 will 
weigh 4, 6, 8, or 10 pounds. The original form of 
the phrases was four-pound nailn, six-pound nails, etc. 
that is, nails weighing 4, 6, etc., pounds to a thousand. 
These phrases, pronounced four-puri nails, six-pun' nails, 
etc., seem to have become confused in the popular mind 
with fourpenny, sixpenny, etc., familial' adjectives denot- 
ing the price of small purchases ; hence the present form, 
and so with eiyhtpenny and tenpenny. See nail, 5. A 
penny for your thoughts, I would give something to 
know what you are thinking about : a friendly expression 
addressed to one in a "brown study." 
Obverse. Reverse. 
I-ord Baltimore Penny. From the only specimen known tu exist. 
(Size of the original.) 
Not to have a penny to bless one's self with. See 
blessi. Penny-banks Act. See bank?. Penny dread- 
ful See dreadful, n. Penny or paternostert, pay or 
prayers ; love or money. Davits. 
If I had thought you would have passed to the terms 
you now stand in, pity nor pension, penny nor pater-ivister 
should ever have made nurse once to open her mouth in 
the cause. Gascoigne, Supposes, i. 1. 
Peter's pence, an annual tax or tribute in several coun- 
tries of northern Europe, consisting of a penny, formerly 
paid to the papal see at Rome. In England it is said to 
have originated under Offa of Mercia in the eighth cen- 
tury, and it was abolished by Henry VIII. The sums now 
sent to Rome under the name of Peter's pence are volun- 
tary contributions by Roman Catholic people everywhere 
for the maintenance of the Pope. Also Peter-pence. 
The old payment called Peter-pence, from the days of 
the Mercian King Offa, was originally made for maintain- 
ing an English college in Rome. Baronius and other 
Roman writers misrepresented this payment as a quit- 
rent for the kingdom, and an acknowledgment of de- 
gendence on Rome. They have been sufficiently confuted 
y Spelman and Collier. 
Quoted in R. W. Dixon's Hist. Church of Eng., Hi., note. 
Pharaoh's pence, the discoid nummulitic fossils in the 
stone of which pyramids and other structures are built in 
Egypt. To think one's penny silver, to have a good 
opinion of one's self. 
Almra. Believe me, though she say that she is fairest, 
I think my penny silver, by her leave. 
Greene and Lodge, Looking Glass for Lond. and Eng., p. 123. 
To turn an honest penny, to make money honestly. 
[Colloq.] To turn a penny, to make money. [Colloq. ] 
Be sure to turn the penny. Dryden. 
penny-alet (pen'i-al), n. [< ME. penny-ale; < 
penny + ale.~\ A cheap, common, or thin ale 
sold for a trifle ; small beer. 
Ther is payn and peny-ale as for a pytaunce y-take, 
Colde flessh and cold fyssh for veneson ybake. 
Piers Plowman (C), x. 92. 
penny-a-liner (pen'i-a-11'ner), n. One who 
furnishes news and other matter to the public 
journals as it were at a penny a line or some 
other small price; hence, any poor writer for 
hire; a hack-writer: so called in contempt. 
penny-a-linerism (pen'i-a-li'ner-izm), n. [< 
penny-a-liner + -ism."] The occupation of a 
penny-a-liner ; the method or practice of writ- 
ing for scanty remuneration ; writing for pay- 
ment by space, with a view to cover as much 
space as possible ; hack-writing. 
penny-bird (pen'i-berd), n. The little grebe : 
same as drink-a-penny. C. Swainson. [Local.] 
penny-COrdt (pen'i-kord), n. A small cord or 
rope. Shak. 
penny-cress (pen'i-kres), n. A cruciferous 
herb, Thlaspi arvense, found throughout Europe 
and temperate Asia, and sparingly naturalized 
in the United States. Its conspicuous winged pods 
are flat and round, whence the name, which is extended 
also to the other species of the genus. See cress, mithri- 
date mustard (under mustard), and Thlaspi. 
penny-dog (pen'i-dog), n. The tope or miller's- 
dog, a kind of shark. See tope. [Local, Eng.] 
penny-fathert (pen'i-fa"THer), . A penurious 
or miserly person ; a niggard; a skinflint. 
Knowing them [rich men] to be such niggish pemi!/- 
fathers that they be sure, as long as they live, not the 
worth of one farthing of that heap of gold shall come to 
them. Sir T. More, Utopia (tr. by Robinson), ii. <i. 
Illiterate hinds, rude boors, and hoary penny-fathers. 
Middleton, Father Hubbard's Tales. 
penny-fee (pen'i-fe), n. Scanty wages. 
[Scotch.] 
He said it wasna in my heart ... to pit a puir lad 
likehimsell. . . . that had nae hauding but his penny-fee, 
to sic a hardship as this comes to. Kmtt. Rob Hoy, xxiv 
