Careful Words

penny (n.)

penny (v.)

penny (adj.)

A peny for your thought.

John Heywood (Circa 1565): Proverbes. Part ii. Chap. iv.

  A penny for your thoughts.

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745): Introduction to Polite Conversation.

With one hand he put

A penny in the urn of poverty,

And with the other took a shilling out.

Robert Pollok (1799-1827): The Course of Time. Book viii. Line 632.

By my penny of observation.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Love's Labour's Lost. Act iii. Sc. 1.

Penny saved is a penny got.

Henry Fielding (1707-1754): The Miser. Act iii. Sc. 12.

Penny saved is a penny got.

Henry Fielding (1707-1754): The Miser. Act iii. Sc. 12.

  There shall be in England seven halfpenny loaves sold for a penny; the three-hooped pot shall have ten hoops; and I will make it felony to drink small beer.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Henry VI. Part II. Act iv. Sc. 2.

  Penny wise, pound foolish.

Robert Burton (1576-1640): Anatomy of Melancholy. Democritus to the Reader.