two ha'pennies for a penny

noun

Any money whatsoever.

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Meanings

noun
  1. UKdatedidiomaticAny money whatsoever.

    I bet you he hasn't got two ha'pennies for a penny — they never have, these people.

    1962, Edith Juliet Rich Isaacs, Theatre Arts, volume 46, page 114
    2 more examples

    A lot of rowdy-dowdies, poverty stricken — blunt but true, they haven't got two ha'pennies for a penny — dirty, no interest in their children.

    1963, New Society, volume 2, page 10

    In that condition he hasn't got a halfpenny to scratch himself with — an irreverent departure from the pious 'not a penny to bless himself'; or two ha'pennies for a penny, nor a brass farthing or a penny to his name.

    1980, Robert Barltrop, Jim Wolveridge, The Muvver Tongue, page 18

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
two pennies to rub together

Origin

Suggesting that somebody has so little money that they could not even exchange somebody's penny for two halfpennies.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

two ha'pennies for a penny. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/two%20ha'pennies%20for%20a%20penny

MLA

“two ha'pennies for a penny.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/two%20ha'pennies%20for%20a%20penny. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “two ha'pennies for a penny,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/two%20ha'pennies%20for%20a%20penny.

Source: two ha'pennies for a penny on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.