# look as if one has lost a shilling and found sixpence

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/look-as-if-one-has-lost-a-shilling-and-found-sixpence
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

To look annoyed or displeased.

## Examples

- You look as if you have lost a shilling and found sixpence.
- She looks as if she has lost a shilling and found sixpence today.
- Do not look as if you have lost a shilling and found sixpence.
- When the boss announced the new weekend hours, everyone looked as if they had lost a shilling and found sixpence.
- He looked as if he had lost a shilling and found sixpence when the waiter brought him the wrong meal after a long wait.
- My neighbor looks as if he has lost a shilling and found sixpence because the rain ruined his plans for a backyard barbecue.
- Upon hearing that the project deadline was moved forward by a week, the team looked as if they had lost a shilling and found sixpence, clearly displeased by the news.

## Origin

From the arithmetic of pre-decimal coinage, where a shilling was valued at twelve pence. The expression describes the arrival at a net loss of sixpence, an outcome that makes the subsequent discovery of a smaller coin an insufficient consolation for the disappearance of the larger one.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.