(pen′ē) noun plural pen·nies or Brit. pence (pens)
1. In the United States and Canada, a cent.
2. A coin of Great Britain, Ireland, and various members of the Commonwealth of Nations, equivalent to 1/12 shilling.
3. In the United Kingdom, a coin equal in value to 1/100 pound: also new penny.
4. Money in general. [OE penning, penig, pending]

Costing (a specified number of) pennies: formerly designating the cost of nails per hundred, but now denoting their length, beginning at 1 inch for twopenny nails and increasing by quarter–inches up to tenpenny, thereafter irregularly. [<PENNY]