death pennies

Noun

death penny (plural death pennies)

1. (historical, plural-normally) A coin placed on the eyelid of a deceased person to keep the eye closed.
   • Afterwards the other seemed to die too, the breath leaving his body, the blood ebbing from his cheek, until his enemy came and stood one day looking down upon him, while he looked back from half-closed eyes, upon which they had already put death pennies, to keep down the lids.1897, Riccardo Stephens, “Ad Finem”, in The Jubilee Book of the Philosophical Institution, Edinburgh: [Philosophical Institution] […], →OCLC, page 61
2. (Greek, Roman) Synonym of Charon's obol (“a coin placed in or on the mouth of a deceased person as a bribe or payment for Charon, the ferryman of Hades”).
   • You will not see him now, till a pinch of dust has been sprinkled on your brow, and the death-penny put into your mouth. Then, when you have crossed the dark river, he will be waiting for you on the other side.1863, G[eorge] J[ohn] Whyte-Melville, “Winged Words”, in The Gladiators: A Tale of Rome and Judæa. […], volume I (Eros), London: Longman, Green, Longmans, Roberts, & Green, →OCLC, page 282

   Synonyms:

   Charon's obol

3. (UK, World-War-I, informal) The memorial plaque, a circular bronze plaque presented to the next of kin of British Empire personnel killed in World War I.
   • Government-inspired tokens of appreciation, such as the so-called ‘death penny’ or bronze plaque announced in 1918 and finally distributed in 1919 to next of kin, were not always accepted with the gratitude expected. Violet Baker had lost her beloved husband, Sam, and she was in no mood to be...2011, Richard van Emden, “‘Least Said, Soonest Mended’”, in The Quick and the Dead: Fallen Soldiers and Their Families in the Great War, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, published 2012, →ISBN, page 316

   Synonyms:

   dead man's penny, widow's penny