more kicks than ha'pence
Preserved but no longer current.
More abuse than profit. Called "monkey's allowance" in allusion to monkeys led about to collect ha'pence by exhibiting "their parts." The poor brutes get the kicks if they do their parts in an unsatisfactory manner, but the master gets the ha'pence collected.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “more kicks than ha'pence” mean?
More abuse than profit. Called "monkey's allowance" in allusion to monkeys led about to collect ha'pence by exhibiting "their parts." The poor brutes get the kicks if they do their parts in an unsatisfactory manner, but the master gets the ha'pence collected.
Is “more kicks than ha'pence” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.