/ · 1894 Brewer’s · T · Tizzy (A)
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A sixpence. . A variant of tester. In the reign of Henry VIII. a “testone” was a shilling, but only sixpence in the reign of Elizabeth. (French, teste, tête, the [monarch’s] head.)
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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.