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billingsgate

 - 4 dictionary results

bil⋅lings⋅gate

  [bil-ingz-geyt or, especially Brit., -git]
Use billingsgate in a Sentence
–noun
coarsely or vulgarly abusive language.
Origin:
1645–55; orig. the kind of speech often heard at Billingsgate, a London fish market at the gate of the same name

Synonyms:
vituperation, vilification, invective, scurrility, vulgarity.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To billingsgate
bil·lings·gate   (bĭl'ĭngz-gāt', -gĭt)   
n.  Foul, abusive language.

[After Billingsgate, a former fish market in London, England.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

billingsgate 
1676, the kind of coarse, abusive language once used by women in the Billingsgate fish market on the River Thames below London Bridge (c.1250).
"Billingsgate is the market where the fishwomen assemble to purchase fish; and where, in their dealings and disputes they are somewhat apt to leave decency and good manners a little on the left hand." ["Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," 1811]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Encyclopedia

Billingsgate

former London market (closed 1982). It was situated in the City of London at the north end of London Bridge beside The Monument, which commemorates the outbreak of the Great Fire of September 1666.

Learn more about Billingsgate with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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