DictionaryRoot: Billingesgate
Old English

Billingesgate

Billing’s gate

1 / 2
A coarse verbal tirade directed at a visibly humiliated listener: loud, sneering speech and an unmistakably vulgar hand gesture reinforce one another, while a nearby witness recoils from the outburst.
noun

billingsgate

BIL-ingz-gayt/ˈbɪlɪŋzˌɡeɪt/

Coarsely abusive language.

Etymology

The place name, meaning “Billing’s gate,” became associated with the coarse, abusive speech of women at its Thames-side market. The market’s name then became a general term for insulting language.

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