← Money & thrift

bawbee

noun · Dialect

The sound of almost nothing.

A halfpenny; a very small sum indeed.

In the wild

“He hadn't a bawbee to his name.”

Origin

16th-century Scots, from the Laird of Sillebawby, who minted them.

Sources·Wright's English Dialect Dictionary/Oxford English Dictionary

More from Money & thrift

rhinoA colloquial and rather robust term for ready money or cash.
feohThe Old English ancestor of 'fee', referring to money, cattle, or property.
brassA Northern English dialect term used to denote money, particularly in the context of wealth.