gentry cove
English
Alternative forms
- gentry cofe
Noun
gentry cove (plural gentry coves)
- (obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) A gentleman.
- 1621, Jonson, Ben, The Gypsies Metamorphosed:
- As priest of the game, / And prelate of the same. / There's a gentry cove here.
- 1837, Disraeli, Benjamin, chapter XIV, in Venetia:
- 'The gentry cove will be romboyled by his dam,' said a third gipsy. 'Queer Cuffin will be the word yet, if we don't tout.'
- 2012, Ross, Kate, A Broken Vessel:
- He's a go among the goes, is Mr. Kestrel. He's only got to sport a new kind of topper, or tie his crumpler a new way, and every gentry-cove in town does just the same.
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Derived terms
- gentry cove's ken (“a gentleman's house”)
Related terms
- gentry mort
References
- Farmer, John Stephen (1893) Slang and Its Analogues, volume 3, page 132