Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Billingsgate |
BillingsgateNoun1. Foul-mouthed or obscene abuse. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "billingsgate" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1749. (references) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Satire | BILLINGSGATE, n. The invective of an opponent. Source: Devil's Dictionary. |
Literature | Billingsgate (London). Gate = quay, and bellan is to bawl or bellow. This quay is so called from the shouting of the fishermen in trying to attract attention and vend their fish. That's Billingsgate. Vulgar and coarse, like the manners and language of Billingsgate fish-fags. "Parnassus spoke the cant of Billingsgate." Dryden: Art of Poetry, c. 1. To talk Billingsgate, i.e. to slang, to scold in a vulgar, coarse style. You are no better than a Billingsgate fish-fag, i.e. you are as rude and ill-mannered as the women of Billingsgate fish-market. The French say "Maubert" instead of Billingsgate, as Your compliments are like those of the Place Maubert, i.e. no compliments at all, but vulgar dirt-flinging. The "Place Maubert" has long been noted for its market. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonym: BillingsgateSynonym: scurrility (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Malediction | Abuse; foul language, bad language, strong language, unparliamentary language; billingsgate, sauce, evil speaking; cursing; Verb: profane swearing, oath; foul invective, ribaldry, rude reproach, scurrility. |
Neologism | Jargon, technical terms, technicality, lingo, slang, cant, argot; St. Gile's Greek, thieves' Latin, peddler's French, flash tongue, Billingsgate, Wall Street slang. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Billingsgate |
| Specialty definitions using "billingsgate": BILLINGSGATE, Billingsgate Pheasant, Bummarees ♦ NYPPER. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | Britannia of Billingsgate (1933) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | They spit the Billingsgate catechism down upon the people. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Billingsgate" is generally used as a noun (proper) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Billingsgate" is used about 34 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (proper) | 100% | 34 | 59,261 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "billingsgate": talk billingsgate. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "billingsgate": billingsgate-based. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
billingsgate | 13 |
billingsgate fish market | 2 |
billingsgate fish | 2 |
billingsgate market old | 2 |
billingsgate calgary | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "billingsgate"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | لغة بذيئة (impurity). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | Ιχθυαγορά Του Λονδίνου, ύβρεισ, 'ρωμόλογα Τησ ιάτσασ. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | Linguaggio Ingiurioso. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | illingsgatebay Mahalagism (gossip, tittle tattle). (various references) ругаться (blackguard, curse, rap, talk billingsgate), как торговка на базаре (talk billingsgate). (various references) Lenguaje Grosero (bad language). (various references) Londra Balık Pazarı, Küfürlü Konuşma, Küfürbazlık (bad language, scurrility, swearing). (various references) Брутальна Лайка. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "billingsgate": billingsgates. (additional references) | |
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"Billingsgate" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: billingagate. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-b-e-g-g-i-i-l-l-n-s-t" | |
-1 letter: legislating. | |
-2 letters: legalising. | |
-3 letters: abseiling, begalling, billeting, gainliest, galleting, gangliest, gingellis, ignitable, libelants, litigable, tangibles. | |
-4 letters: agisting, alienist, alleging, baggiest, bastille, beatings, beltings, bilgiest, billings, blasting, bleating, galleins, gelating, gelatins, gellants, genitals, gigabits, gillnets, gingalls, gingelis, gingelli, instable, labeling, legalist, legating, libelant, libeling, libelist, ligating, lignites, lingiest, listable, litanies, naggiest, niellist, sibilant, sibilate, singable. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-b-e-g-g-i-i-l-l-n-s-t" | |
+1 letter: billingsgates. | |
+5 letters: agglutinabilities. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)42 69 6C 6C 69 6E 67 73 67 61 74 65 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)-... .. .-.. .-.. .. -. --. ... --. .- - . |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000010 01101001 01101100 01101100 01101001 01101110 01100111 01110011 01100111 01100001 01110100 01100101 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)B i l l i n g s g a t e |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0042 0069 006C 006C 0069 006E 0067 0073 0067 0061 0074 0065 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)367578787580738573678671 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Quotations: Fiction 7. Usage Frequency 8. Expressions | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Derivations 12. Anagrams | 13. Orthography 14. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
