📏 About three inches 🔩 A long nail

tenpenny

9.1

About three inches long for joining thick wooden boards

adjective

Specialized

: clavo de diez peniques

The carpenter asked for a box of tenpenny nails to finish the frame.

Examples

You should use tenpenny nails when joining thick wooden boards together.
Look at this tenpenny nail!
He bought several sizes, but the tenpenny nails were perfect for the job.
The tenpenny nail is strong.
The carpenter asked for a box of tenpenny nails to finish the frame.
You should use tenpenny nails when joining thick wooden boards together.
He bought several sizes, but the tenpenny nails were perfect for the job.

Synonyms

ninepenny

vstenpenny

9.9

A nail about seven centimetres long used to join wood

is about 3 inches long and therefore slightly longer

eightpenny

vstenpenny

Specialized

9.9

A nail about two and a half inches long for wood framing

is about 3 inches long and therefore longer than that nail

fourpenny

vstenpenny

Specialized

9.9

A nail about one and a half inches long

is three inches long and thus far longer in size

threepenny

vstenpenny

Specialized

9.9

Describes a small nail about one and a quarter inches long

is three inches long and much longer than that nail

Compounds

tenpenny nail

Specialized

1 6.4

A nail about three inches long used for holding pieces of wood together

How Long

tenpenny

Specialized

9.1

eightpenny

Specialized

9.9

Surface Forms

tenpenny positive

Morphology

tenpenny = ten + penny (opaque) = ten + penny

Formally a clear compound of 'ten' + 'penny', but the specific meaning (a nail size ≈ three inches) derives from an historical price/size convention rather than compositional semantics.

Etymology

Tenpenny comes from an old way of naming nail sizes where ten + penny (think of the small coin) meant a nail about 'three inches long'. So, calling something tenpenny means it uses or fits that size of nail.