halfpenny

noun

1. (UK, also, attributive, historical)Senses chiefly with the plural form halfpennies.

   “There vvere none principal, they vvere all like one another, as halfe pence are, euerie one fault ſeeming monſtrous, til his fellovv-fault came to match it.”

   “[T]here are Thouſands vvho vvould not have contributed a ſingle Halfpenny, as indeed he did not in Effect, for he made no Tender of any thing; and therefore as the others thought proer to make no Demand, he kept his Money in his Pocket.”

   “Whatever means he used in making his way to London, it is certain he made his entrance there with but a few halfpence in his pocket.”

   “Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat, / Please to put a penny in the old man's hat, / If you haven't got a penny, a halfpenny will do, / If you haven't got a halfpenny—God bless you!”

2. (Ireland, Scotland, also, attributive, broadly, historical)Senses chiefly with the plural form halfpennies.
3. (UK, also, attributive, historical)Senses chiefly with the plural form halfpence.

   “There ſhall be in England, ſeuen halfe peny Loaues ſold for a peny: the three hoop'd pot, ſhall haue ten hoopes, and I vvill make it Fellony to drink ſmall Beere.”

   “My earlieſt vviſh vvas to eſcape unheeded through life; but I have been ſet up for half-pence, to fret and ſcamper at the end of my chain.”

4. (Ireland, Scotland, also, attributive, broadly, historical)Senses chiefly with the plural form halfpence.
5. (broadly, historical)A postage stamp worth half of one penny.
6. (Australia, US, archaic, broadly)A usually semicircular earmark made in the ear of a livestock animal.
7. (broadly, figuratively, obsolete)A small piece; a fragment.

   “O ſhe tore the letter into a thouſand halfpence, raild at her ſelf, that ſhe ſhould be ſo immodeſt to vvrite, to one that ſhe knevv vvould flout her, […]”

name

1. A surname transferred from the nickname.