Word.ws English Dictionary

turned an honest penny

turned an honest penny is the simple past and past participle of turn an honest penny.

Meaning of turn an honest penny

Verb

turn an honest penny (third-person singular simple present turns an honest penny, present participle turning an honest penny, simple past and past participle turned an honest penny)

  1. To earn money by honest methods.
    • My client is an infant, a poor foreign immigrant who started scratch as a stowaway and is now trying to turn an honest penny.1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[15]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC

Questions about turned an honest penny

What is turned an honest penny the simple past and past participle of?
Turned an honest penny is the simple past and past participle of turn an honest penny.

Words near turned an honest penny in the dictionary

  1. turned a setback into a comeback
  2. turned a trick
  3. turned about
  4. turned again
  5. turned against
  6. turned an honest penny
  7. turned around
  8. turned around one's finger
  9. turned aside
  10. turned away
  11. turned back

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: turned an honest penny (page history and authors); turn an honest penny (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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