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Glite Dictionary
ninepenny

ninepenny

9.9
A nail about seven centimetres long used to join wood
  • adjective
  • UK
translation icon : nueve peniques
  • The carpenter used ninepenny nails to fasten the wooden boards together.

Examples

  • The instructions specifically call for ninepenny nails to ensure a sturdy construction.

  • I need some ninepenny nails for this project.

  • Make sure you buy ninepenny nails for this type of framing work.

  • The carpenter prefers using ninepenny nails for framing.

  • Make sure you buy ninepenny nails for this type of framing work.

  • The instructions specifically call for ninepenny nails to ensure a sturdy construction.

  • The carpenter used ninepenny nails to fasten the wooden boards together.

Surface Forms

ninepenny positive

Morphology

ninepenny = nine + penny (opaque) = nine + penny

The components 'nine' + 'penny' are transparently combined to indicate 'ninepence', but the mapping from that price term to a specific nail length is conventional and requires domain knowledge.

Etymology

The word ninepenny comes from an old way of naming nails by a number plus penny, where penny means the 'small coin' and the number showed a traditional size or price of the nail. So a ninepenny nail is about 2 3/4 inches long, which is why builders ask for ninepenny nails.