the verbal stem in combs., as split-farthing a., mean, miserly; split-fig (see quots.); split-plough, a plow used for splitting ridges.
1699. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Split-fig, a Grocer.
1787. W. H. Marshall, E. Norfolk (1795), II. 384. Nip, a near, split-farthing house-wife.
1840. J. Buel, Farmer’s Companion, 118. These high furrows are separated in the spring with the four-horse split-plough.
1882. Jago, Cornwall Gloss., 274. Split-fig, a very stingy person. Nickname for a grocer who would cut a raisin in two, rather than give overweight.
