an English money of account, equal to four pence. Other nations, as the Dutch, Poles, Saxons, Bohemians, French, &c. have likewise their groats, groots, graches, gros, &c. In the Saxon times, no silver coin bigger than a penny was struck in England, nor after the conquest, till Edward III., who, about the year 1351, coined groshes, i.e. groats, or great pieces, which went for 4d. a-piece: and so the matter stood till the reign of Henry VIII., who, in 1544, first coined shillings.