half crown
1
9.9
- noun
- /hɑːf kraʊn/
- Archaic
:
media corona
- He found a half crown in his old coat pocket after many years.
Examples
-
And then his hand comes over the screen with a half-crown in it.
-
It's all shillings except two half crowns.
-
"Admission was to be a half crown, a quarter of what she had charged for that first concert.
Academic text (1998) -
If the government says that this coin is worth a half crown, then that's what it's worth.
Fiction book (1993) -
Elenic half crowns in his right hand, carefully running one fingertip across the milled edges and hefting them slightly as if trying to determine their weight.
Fiction book (1993) -
Admission to the museum cost a half crown, making it affordable for families.
-
She proudly displayed the rare half crown that she collected from her grandfather.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a former British coin worth two shillings and sixpence' is directly derivable from combining 'half' (one of two equal parts) with 'crown' (a coin), i.e. half of a crown. This simple numeric/compositional relation follows regular word-formation patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would be able to infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
The coin half crown was named because it was half of a crown coin, so it was worth half as much. It was worth 'two shillings and sixpence', so the name simply told people how much the coin was worth.