halfpenny

noun[before a noun]7

1. •
   (Ireland, Scotland) A similar coin formerly used in Ireland and Scotland.
2. •
   (UK, historical) A discontinued English (later British) coin worth half of one penny (old or new).

   • There vvere none principal, they vvere all like one another, as halfe pence are, euerie one fault seeming monstrous, til his fellovv-fault came to match it. — 1598
3. •
   (Ireland, Scotland) An amount of money that the Irish or Scottish coin was worth.
4. •
   (UK, historical) An amount of money that the English (later British) coin was worth.

   • There shall be in England, seuen halfe peny Loaues sold for a peny: the three hoop'd pot, shall haue ten hoopes, and I vvill make it Fellony to drink small Beere. — 1591
5. •
   (historical) A postage stamp worth half of one penny.
6. •
   (US, no longer used) A usually semicircular earmark made in the ear of a livestock animal.
7. •
   (figurative, no longer used) A small piece; a fragment.

   • O she tore the letter into a thousand halfpence, raild at her self, that she should be so immodest to vvrite, to one that she knevv vvould flout her, […] — 1598