Half-faced Groat (You)
. You worthless fellow. The debased groats issued in the reign of Henry VIII. had the king’s head in profile, but those in the reign of Henry VII. had the king’s head with the full face. (See King John, i. 1; and 2 Henry IV., iii. 1.)
“Thou half-faced groat! You thick-cheeked chitty-face!”
Munday: The Downful of Robert, Earle of Huntingdon (1601).
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Entry taken from
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable,
edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.