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• billingsgate
  billingsgate

  noun

  coarsely or vulgarly abusive language.
• Billingsgate
  Billingsgate

  noun

  the largest fish market in London, on the N bank of the River Thames; moved to new site at Canary Wharf in 1982 and the former building converted into offices

billingsgate

American  

[bil-ingz-geyt, -git] / ˈbɪl ɪŋzˌgeɪt, -gɪt /

noun

1. coarsely or vulgarly abusive language.

   Synonyms:

   vulgarity, scurrility, invective, vilification, vituperation

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Billingsgate ¹ British  

/ ˈbɪlɪŋɡzˌɡeɪt /

noun

1. the largest fish market in London, on the N bank of the River Thames; moved to new site at Canary Wharf in 1982 and the former building converted into offices

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billingsgate ² British  

/ ˈbɪlɪŋzˌɡeɪt /

noun

1. obscene or abusive language

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Etymology

Origin of billingsgate

First recorded in 1645–55; originally the kind of speech often heard at Billingsgate, a London fish market at the gate of the same name

Explanation

Billingsgate is rude, abusive language. If a political debate is becoming nasty and insulting, it's good to have a moderator who will demand an end to the billingsgate. The British term billingsgate is less familiar in the U.S. — but it's a great way to refer to a particularly coarse form of verbal abuse. It comes from London's Billingsgate Fish Market, a 17th-century open-air market where ill-mannered fishmongers hollered raucously, haggling over prices using rude and vulgar language. The word can be used for any kind of foul-mouthed vituperation: "No arguing about sports rivalries at my birthday party! It always turns into pure billingsgate!"

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

billingsgate Billingsgate

And there, some say, he also goes in for union-busting and Bowery billingsgate.

From Time Magazine Archive

Last week they felt no shame in engaging in an exchange of diplomatic billingsgate.

From Time Magazine Archive

Scott never had a chance in the face of Ms. Casals' steady barrage of anti-Riggs billingsgate.

From Time Magazine Archive

The best Baedeker of billingsgate and other U.S. lingua frank since Mencken.

From Time Magazine Archive

The bluejay, having exhausted his vocabulary of jay-ribaldry, screeched one last outrageous bit of billingsgate into Flint's ears, shut up his tail like a fan, and darted off, a streak of blue and gray.

From Slippy McGee, Sometimes Known as the Butterfly Man by Marie Conway Oemler

But there are also some great markets, like Billingsgate Fish Market, where we were able to source the seafood from or from Borough Market, which had a lot of specialty stuff, as well.

From Salon ● Apr. 28, 2023

Heist caper American Animals receives 11 Bifa nominations ahead of this year's ceremony, to be held at London's Old Billingsgate on 2 December.

From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2018

Early in the 19th century, the fish sold at Billingsgate market in London had been caught a few miles from London Bridge – 3,000 salmon every year.

From The Guardian ● May 13, 2018

An inventory from the same year shows the parish of St Botolph's, Billingsgate, half a mile from Pudding Lane, had 36 buckets and a ladder.

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2016

Old London Bridge was soon passed, and old Billingsgate Market with its oyster-boats and Dutchmen, and the White Tower and Traitor’s Gate, and we were in among the tiers of shipping.

From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens