tenpenny

[ ten-pen-ee, -puh-nee ]

/ ˈtɛnˌpɛn i, -pə ni /

noting a nail 3 inches (7.6 cm) in length. Symbol: 10d.

worth or costing 10 cents.

Origin of tenpenny

late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; see origin at ten, penny

He used a tenpenny nail and a hammer in the good old way to which he was brought up.

The Mutiny of the Elsinore |Jack London
William collects things—everything from tenpenny nails to teapots, I should say, and they're all there in his rooms.

Miss Billy's Decision |Eleanor H. Porter
From John Blane, during the same year, he purchased 2500 tenpenny nails and the same quantity of eightpenny nails.

The Cultural History of Marlborough, Virginia |C. Malcolm Watkins
They would not know how to exaggerate a broom-stick; for the life of them they could not exaggerate a tenpenny nail.

Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens |G. K. Chesterton

They gave forty tenpenny pieces to the piper and told him to throw the bodies into a hole far from the house.

Legends of Saints & Sinners |Douglas Hyde

tenpenny

/ (ˈtɛnpənɪ) /

(prenominal) US and Canadian (of a nail) three inches in length