two bob

English

Alternative forms

• two-bob

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Noun

two bob (uncountable)

1. (UK, Australia, obsolete) Two shillings; a florin.
2. (Australia, slang) A 20-cent coin.
3. (idiomatic, UK, Australia, often attributive) A trivially small value.
   • 1999, Barry Maitland, The Chalon Heads: A Kathy and Brock Mystery‎^[1], page 181:

     Less flashy in its post-modernism than the MI6 building, more sober in its brick-framed glass curtain walling, Sally Malone would have pointed out that this was the two-bob side of the block, as against the half-crown riverbank site of the other building.

   • 1975 September 4, “Monitor: Nova Honda brightens the night sky”, in New Scientist, page 515:

     Judging from the spectrum and the brightness Dr Stickland “wouldn′t give two bob either way”.

Usage notes

The use of two bob for a 20-cent coin derives from the equivalence of two shillings for 20 cents for the purpose of conversion during decimalisation (in 1966); since then, the term has slowly dropped out of usage and it is seldom used today.

Derived terms

• bent as a two bob note
• get one's two bob's worth
• give two bob each way
• have one's two bob's worth
• silly as a two bob watch