Penny

From the Danish pennig and German pfennig , a copper coin of full value. This was originally nicked acro to admit of being broken into halves and quarters. Penny Blood. The modern substitute for the “Penny Dreadful.” The term “Blood” is short for a blood-curdling relation. Penny Gaff. The term applied to a low-cla theatre, in allusion to the first Drury Lane Theatre, built on the site of a famous cockpit. Gaff was but another name for a cockpit, expre ing as it did in various languages the iron hook, fork, or spur with which the cocks were goaded when they showed a reluctance to fight.