English

Alternative forms

• two-bob

Noun

two bob

1. (Britain, Australia, obsolete) Two shillings; a florin.
2. (Australia, slang) A 20-cent coin.
3. (idiomatic, Britain, Australia) A trivially small value; often used attributively.
   • 1999, Barry Maitland, The Chalon Heads: A Kathy and Brock Mystery, 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, 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