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billingsgate

 - 3 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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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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