penny sterling

Noun

penny sterling (plural pennies sterling or pence sterling)

1. (historical) A British coin worth 1⁄240 of a pound sterling, made of silver prior to 1797, and copper thereafter, Abbreviation: d.
   • The Semissis, or מםימם Mesimes, was the half of an assar, or the 192d part of a shekel: its weight was 2 barley corns, and its value equal to ּ146, or the 7th part nearly of a penny sterling.1823, William Brown, David Jennings, Antiquities of the Jews carefully compiled from authentic sources: and Their Customs Illustrated
   • Wat imagines he is asked for thirty pennies sterling (two and a half shillings), when he is really being asked for thirty pennies Scots (two and a half pennies sterling).1996, James Hogg, Gillian Hughes, Tales of the Wars of Montrose, →ISBN, page 302
2. (historical) A unit of weight amounting to 1/20 of a troy ounce.
   • Twenty four Grains made one Penny Sterling, 20 Penny weight one Ounce, and 12 Ounces, or 5660 Grains made a pound Sterling, consisting of 20 Shillings.1676, Edward Chamberlayne, Angliae notitia ; or, the present state of England
   • Thirty-two Wheat COrns, taken in the midst of the Ear, weigheth one penny Sterling. Twenty-pence Sterling, maketh the Ounce Troy.1727, Michael Dalton, The Country Justice: Containing the Practice, Duty and Power of the Justices of the Peace, As well in as out of their Sessions, page 363