A small amount or value; as much as a groat (an old coin) would buy; used to express something of minimal worth.
From groat (an old English coin) plus worth. This compound emerged in medieval England when groats were common currency, indicating whatever small amount that coin could purchase.
This word became famous through 'Robert Greene's Groats-Worth of Wit' (1592), a pamphlet that's one of the first written references to William Shakespeare — a groat's worth of literary history!
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