sb. Forms: 1 feorðung, 2 feorþing, 2–3 ferþing, -yng, 3–4 south. verþ-, verthing, 3–6 ferthing, -yng(e, 4–6 ferdyng(e, 6 farthinge, -yng(e, 6–8 fardin(g, -yng, 9 dial. farden, -in, 6– farthing. [OE. féorðing, féorðung, f. féorð-a FOURTH; corresp. to ON. fiórðungr, of which it may possibly be an adoption.] A quarter of some particular denomination of money or measure.
1. The quarter of a penny; the coin representing this value. (Until 17th c. chiefly a silver coin; subsequently of copper alloys; now of bronze.) In translations of the N.T. used for the two Roman coins as and quadrans, respectively, the tenth and the fourth part of a denarius.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Mark xii. 42. Tuoȝe stycas þæt is feorðing penninges. Ibid., Luke xxi. 2. Gesæh ðonne an widua ðorfondlico sendende mælenno feorðungas tuoeȝ.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 129/800. To ȝelden ech ferþing.
1335. Act 9 Edw. III., II. c. 3. Que nul esterling. maille ne ferthing soit fondu pour vessel.
1340. Ayenb., 193. Þe poure wyfman þet ne hedde bote tuaye uerþinges þet hi offrede to þe temple.
c. 1430. How the Good Wijf tauȝte Hir Douȝtir, 184, in Babees Bk. (1868), 46. Ne þerfore spende neuere þe more of a ferthing.
1502. Ord. Crysten Men (W. de W., 1506), II. xviii. 136. Unto ye last ferdynge.
1520. Caxton’s Chron. Eng., VII. (1520), 91 b/1. The kynge ordeyned that the sterlyng halfpeny and ferthyng sholde go throughout al his lande.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 165.
| She thinkth hir farthing good syluer, but trust me | |
| She is quycke syluer what euer hir farthyng be. |
1611. Bible, Matt. x. 29. Are not two Sparrowes solde for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
1642. [see BRASS sb. 7].
1667. E. Chamberlayne, St. Gt. Brit., I. (1684), 11. A small piece of copper, called a Farthing.
1688. Lond. Gaz., No. 2407/4. The new Tin Farthings … are to be delivered out at the Tinn Office in Bishopsgate-street.
1740. Fielding, Tom Jones, VI. xiii. Here, then … take every farthing I am worth.
1849. Robertson, Serm., Ser. I. ii. (1866), 32. A miser … hoards farthings.
1866. G. Macdonald, Ann. Q. Neighb., xxxii. (1878), 556. Nor can you touch one farthing of her money, sir.
† b. Under farthing: marked with a farthing.
1715. Lond. Gaz., No. 5365/4. Sheep … gabel’d on the Left Ear, the Right Ear under Farthing.
2. transf. † a. A very small piece of anything. Obs. Hence b. fig. A very little, ‘an atom,’ ‘a bit,’ esp. in Not to care or matter a farthing.
a. c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 134.
| That in hire cuppe was no ferthing sene | |
| Of grees, whan sche dronken hadde hire draught. |
b. c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 8884. Hit neuer fortherit me a ferthing to fylsy my goodes.
1550. Crowley, The Last Trumpet, 828.
| When thou knowest not therbi to make | |
| the sicke man one farthinge better. |
1647. Ward, The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America, 43. It matters not a farthing whether he be Presbyterian or Independent: he may be a zelot in bearing witnesse to which he likes best, and yet an Iscariot to both, in the witnesse of his owne Conscience.
a. 1707. Prior, The Ladle, 18.
| Else all these Things we toil so hard in, | |
| Wou’d not avail one single Farthing. |
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 522, 29 Oct., ¶ 6. The worthy gentleman who has told her he does not care a farthing for her.
1872. Black, Adv. Phaeton, xxv. 347. Declared that he did not care a brass farthing.
† 3. Farthing (of gold): a. A quarter noble; also farthing-noble. (The AF. statute of 1421 has ferling.) b. A quarter royal (see quot. 1494).
1463. Bury Wills (1850), 15. I beqwethe to … Davn John Wulfpet … a ferthing of gold.
1494. Fabyan, Chron., VII. 655. This yere [1464–5] was a newe coyne ordeyned by the kynge … namyd the royall … in value of .x. shillynges, the halfe royall .v.s. and the ferthynge .ii. s. vi. d.
1529. Rastell, Pastyme (1811), 220. [In 1351] the kynge stablysshed his coyne … and ordayned that … a noble of golde shulde go for halfe a marke and xx.d for a farthynge of gold, and xii of those farthynges of golde dyd way an ounce.
† 4. The name of various measures of land: a. ? The quarter of a hide; = VIRGATE; cf. FARDEL sb.2 b. ? The quarter of a virgate. c. ? The quarter of an acre, a rood (see quot. 1669 for farthing-land in 5 b). Obs.
a. 1000. Exon Domesday, fol. 356. Oltredus … reddidit gildum pro iii uirg. et iii ferdin’ et dim.
1602. Carew, Cornwall, 36 a. Commonly thirtie Acres make a farthing land, nine farthings a Cornish Acre, and foure Cornish Acres, a Knights fee.
c. 1630. Risdon, Surv. Devon, § 68 (1810), 65. William Moyhun was seized of three rods and three farthings of land, by the conqueror’s gift.
5. attrib. and Comb. a. attrib. Costing or valued at a farthing, as farthing-candle, whence farthing-candle-light, farthing-fee, -loaf. Also objective, as farthing-coiner.
c. 1300. Havelok, 878.
| He … bar þe mete to þe castel, | |
| And gat him þere a ferþing wastel. |
c. 1350. Eng. Gilds (1870), 354. Ȝif þe ferþingloff is in defawte of wyȝte ouer twelf pans.
1463. Bury Wills (1850), 28. As moche ferthyng white breed as comyth to iiij s. ij d.
1524. Test. Ebor. (Surtees), V. 181. I will and gif to every man and woman and childe of the contrie a farddyng loof.
1596. J. Dee, in Recorde’s Gr. Artes, II. 324. Directly against it [the price of wheate] in the second columne you may find the waight of the farthing white loafe.
1597–8. Bp. Hall, Sat., I. iv. 2. Strayning his tip-toes for a farthing fee.
1631. Reports of Cases in the Courts of Star Chamber (Camden), 84. Then was likewise read the severall confessions of the 2 farthing coyners.
1673. E. Pearse, Best Match, vii. § 5. 76. Not so much as the light of a Farthing-Candle is to the light of the Sun.
1691. trans. Emilianne’s Frauds Romish Monkes, 247. Her sisters would never be at a Farthing charge, to procure Prayers for her.
1795. Wolcott (P. Pindar), Wks. (1812), IV. 180.
| A sun with us no credit gains, | |
| But yields to every Farthing Candle. |
1817. Byron, Beppo, xliii.
| That sort of farthing candlelight which glimmers | |
| When reeking London’s smoky caldron simmers. |
1848. Garnett, Ess., 120. The farthing-candle style of the notes.
1864. The Saturday Review, XVIII. 9 July, 66/1. The farthing, as first issued, was called a farthing token, and was liable to be refused.
b. Special comb., as farthing-boat, a boat on which the fare is a farthing; farthing-cut, a mark with which horses were branded by the owner; farthing-gleek, see GLEEK; farthing-land (see quots.); † farthing-man, Sc., some official of a guild; farthing-noble, the fourth part of a noble; farthing-office, the office from which farthings were issued; farthing-shop, one where articles priced at a farthing are sold; farthing-trout, a name of the Samlet or Parr.
1832. W. Stephenson, Gateshead Local Poems, 58.
| I thought just then—if you’ll believe, | |
| His neck not worth a groat; | |
| She kick’d, she flung and without leave, | |
| She took the *farthing boat. |
1691. Lond. Gaz., No. 2694/4. Stolen or strayed … one black Nag … with a *farthing cut in the near Ear. Ibid. (1711), No. 4877/4. A farthing Cut on his Left Ear.
a. 1652. Brome, Mad Couple well Matched, II. i. At Post and Pare, or *Farthing gleeke.
1602. Carew, Cornwall, 36 a. Commonly thirtie Acres make a *farthing land, nine farthings a Cornish Acre, and foure Cornish Acres, a Knights fee.
1669. J. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 325. A Farding Land, or Farundale of Land, is the fourth part of an Acre.
1882. C. Elton, Orig. Eng. Hist., 193. Three kinds of land, Assart, Farthing-land and Cotman-land.
15[?]. Stat. Gild, in Balfour Practicks, 77. Quhen the Alderman, Thesurare, *Farthing-man or Dene, will call and convene the gild brether for the commoun affairis.
15[?]. Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden), 5. The nobylle, halfe nobylle, and *ferdyng-nobylle.
1672. Lond. Gaz., No. 714/4. The *Farthing-Office … for the delivering out of Farthings will be open on Tuesdays only.
1889. Pall Mall G., 6 Sept., 3/1. The *farthing shop is in Dorset-street.
1865. J. Couch, Fishes Brit. Isl., IV. 245. Samlet, or Parr…. *Farthing trout.
