gentry mort
English
Noun
gentry mort (plural gentry morts)
- (obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) A gentlewoman; a lady.
- 1707, Shirley, John, “The Maunder's Praise of his Strowling Mort”, in The Triumph of Wit:
- No gentry mort hath prats like thine, / No cove e'er wap'd with such a one.
- 2006, Watson, Sally, The Outrageous Oriel:
- Chastity sighed in profound relief. To know a gentry mort like this was the most wondrous event of her life, and she craved her approval more than she did God's.
- 2015, Jeffries, Sabrina, The Art of Sinning:
- You said I wasn't to use cant around a gentry mort, and here she's using it more than me.
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Related terms
- gentry cove
References
- [Francis Grose] (1788), “Gentry mort”, in A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 2nd edition, London: […] S. Hooper, […], OCLC 1179630700.
- Albert Barrère and Charles G[odfrey] Leland, compilers and editors (1889–1890), “gentry mort”, in A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant […], volume I (A–K), Edinburgh: […] The Ballantyne Press, OCLC 882571771, page 400.
- Farmer, John Stephen (1893) Slang and Its Analogues, volume 3, page 132