groat (grot)

[ G. grot), a groat, lit. a 'great' or large coin, a name applied to various coins of different value (orig. to Bremen coins called grote sware, 'great pennies,' IMG:content-2694.png:[blocks in formation] Groat of Edward III., British Museum. (Size of the original.) English silver coin, of the value of fourpence, first i ued for circulation in the reign of Edward III. Groats were i ued by subsequent sovereigns till 1662, when their coinage (except as Maundy money) was discontinued. The groat, under the name of fourpence, was again i ued for circulation in 1836, but it has not been coined (except as Maundy money) since 1856. A! give that covent [convent] half a quarter otes; A! gif that covent foure and twenty grotes. Chaucer, Summoner's Tale, 1. 256. 3 groates make 1 shilling. T. Hill , Arithmetic (1600). In the fifteenth Year of this King's Reign, Wheat was sold for ten Groats a Quarter. Baker , Chronicles, p. 101. 2t. One of various small continental coins. A Flemish groat is a little above 3 farthings English. Recorde, Whetstone of Wit. 3. Proverbially, a very small sum. He warned Watt his wyf was to blame, That hire hed was worth halue a marke, his hode nouzte worth a grote. Piers Plowman (B), v. 31. "I care not a groat for Master Tre ilian," he said; “I have done more than bargain by him, and have brought his errant-damozel within his reach." Scott, Kenilworth, xxix.