DCHP-1 Online

penny

• n. a bronze coin valued at one hundredth part of a Canadian dollar, adopted officially as Canadian currency in 1858; also, the value of this coin.

  See also: cent  

  • Although both penny and copper have long been used in Canadian informal speech, many Canadians still associate the former with usage in the United States, where it has been used for "cent"for over a century.

  • 1902  "Six pennies and two dimes," was Hughie's disconsolate reply.
  • 1920  Our children call cents "pennies" (thus showing that the half is at least equal to the whole), and our pretty five cent silver pieces they call "nickels," after their ugly American equivalents.
  • 1967  He noted that in the French language, Canada's official language along with English, there is no slang equivalent to penny and nickel.