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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

Nor is he shy about lapsing occasionally into the Yorkshire-accented billingsgate that he has perfected over the years in leading T.U.C.'s toughest negotiations�including British Ford's acceptance of unions at Dagenham during World War II.

From Time Magazine Archive

Gleason merely settles in for an extended Honeymooners skit, swinging on the billingsgate with his wife and rolling fried-egg eyes skyward at every silence.

From Time Magazine Archive

In the city whose name has been a synonym for social war and political billingsgate, Champion Deneen warred upon Robert E. Crowe, the State's attorney of Leopold-Loeb fame and Mayor Thompson's entourage.

From Time Magazine Archive

Nonsmokers, who used to say mildly, "Would you mind not smoking?" have moved up to billingsgate.

From Time Magazine Archive

The appearance is, that her social walk was wide away from the purlieus of common mundane diabolism and billingsgate.

From Witchcraft of New England Explained by Modern Spiritualism by Putnam, Allen