Meanings
- UKdatedslangMentally deficient.
He felt no curiosity about news or daily events, and was getting to be looked on as 'tenpence to the shilling' in the head.
1951, Crichton Porteous, Wild Acres, page 2032 more examples
I knew that chap; but he never was more nor tenpence to the shilling. He was one of the men, we say, who fell out of his cradle and knocked his head.
1909, Edward R. Hartley, Train Talks, page 4Whenever he did manage to engineer a meeting she always treated him as if he was only tenpence to the shilling, a few bricks short of a load, as if he needed another brain cell to qualify as a plant.
2011, Ruth Hamilton, A Whisper To The Living
Origin
The British shilling was worth twelve pence, so tenpence would be a deficient exchange.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
tenpence to the shilling. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tenpence%20to%20the%20shilling
“tenpence to the shilling.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tenpence%20to%20the%20shilling. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tenpence to the shilling,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tenpence%20to%20the%20shilling.
Source: tenpence to the shilling on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.