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tenpenny

tenpenny

7.5
A nail about three inches long that joins thick wooden boards
  • noun
  • /ˈtɛnˌpɛni/
  • Specialized
translation icon : clavo de diez peniques
  • To build the sturdy furniture, you'll need plenty of tenpenny nails.
  • tenpenny nail

Examples

  • For the men, he had English ax heads, tenpenny nails, hammerheads, and belt buckles - mostly of horn, but one or two special ones of hard iron.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • The carpenter used a tenpenny nail to secure the wooden beams together.

  • They've pushed me aside, sent me up to this tenpenny post.

  • It’s a waste of tenpenny stamp.

  • He purchased a box of tenpenny nails for his home improvement project.

Synonyms

tenpenny nail
vstenpenny
  • Specialized
1 6.4

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

is the same size and use but is the established common term
eightpenny nail
vstenpenny
  • Specialized
8.1

A 2.5 inch nail used to join pieces of wood

is longer at about three inches used mainly in carpentry
sixpenny nail
vstenpenny
  • Specialized
8.8

A nail about two inches long used in carpentry

is larger measuring about three inches and for carpentry use
fourpenny nail
vstenpenny
  • Specialized
8.3

A small metal pin about one and a half inches long that holds pieces of wood together

is notably longer around three inches for heavier carpentry tasks

Compounds

tenpenny nail
  • Specialized
1 6.4

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

How Long

tenpenny
  • Specialized
7.5
eightpenny nail
  • Specialized
8.1
sixpenny nail
  • Specialized
8.8

Surface Forms

tenpenny singular
tenpennies plural

Morphology

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

The lexical composition 'ten' + 'penny' is evident, but the noun sense (a nail of a certain size) relies on conventional/historical naming rather than clear compositional meaning.

Etymology

Tenpenny (the nail) gets its name from an old size system where ten and penny showed the nail's length. A tenpenny is about 'three inches long', so the name tells you the nail's size.