bawbee

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word bawbee. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word bawbee, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say bawbee in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word bawbee you have here. The definition of the word bawbee will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofbawbee, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

Etymology

From Scots bawbee.

Pronunciation

Noun

bawbee (plural bawbees)

  1. (Scotland, historical) A coin originally worth six pennies Scots, and later three; held equivalent to an English halfpenny.
  2. (figuratively) A copper; a small amount of money.
    • 2007 July 12, Simon Hoggart, The Guardian:
      He said there were already plans for a tramline, and a museum of the theatre. Folk should not, he implied, waste their bawbees on the devil's spinning wheel.

Scots

Etymology

Probably shortened from Sillebawbe, the territory of which Alexander Orrok, Scottish master of the mint in the 16th century, was laird.

Pronunciation

Noun

bawbee (plural bawbees)

  1. (historical) bawbee, halfpenny
    • 1823, Walter Scott, St. Ronan's Well:
      ‘And muckle they hae made o't—the bankrupt body, Sandie Lawson, hasna paid them a bawbee of four terms' rent.’
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
  2. money
  3. dowry
    • 1803, Alexander Boswell, Jenny's Bawbee:
      A' clatty, squinting through a glass, / He girn'd, ‘I'faith a bonnie lass!’ / He thought to win, wi' front o' brass, / Jenny's bawbee.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)