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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-gayt, -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

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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

Mrs. Huxley was rebuked because she, her husband and some other delegates had shown their disgust at the billingsgate of the pro-Communist intellectuals, who formed a majority of the stacked meeting.

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

That was Firebrand Danny Cohn-Bendit, leveling a barrage of billingsgate at Herbert Marcuse, the aging Pied Piper of the New Left, who appeared at Rome's Eliseo Theater to give a lecture, "Beyond the One-Dimensional Man."

From Time Magazine Archive

As if that he might leave no form of human utterance ungilded by his genius, Shakespeare in Thersites has given us the apotheosis of blackguardism and billingsgate.

From The Galaxy, Volume 23, No. 2, February, 1877 by Various

Harvey, the first woman to win the award since 2019, was announced as winner at a ceremony in London's Old Billingsgate, and will take home £50,000.

From BBC ● Nov. 12, 2024

Reacting to his win on stage at the award ceremony in Old Billingsgate, London, Lynch said it was with "immense pleasure" that he was taking the Booker back to Ireland.

From BBC ● Nov. 26, 2023

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

“Absolutely wonderful. Best news ever,” said Allen Laurence, 65, a vendor at London’s Billingsgate market.

From Salon ● Jun. 24, 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

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