ben mort
English
Alternative forms
- ben mot, ben mott, bene mort, bene mot, bene mott
Noun
ben mort (plural ben morts)
- (obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) Good woman.
- 1610, Rowlands, Samuel, “Towre Out Ben Morts”, in Farmer, John Stephen, editor, Musa Pedestris, published 1896, page 5:
- Towre out ben morts & towre, / Looke out ben morts & towre, / For all the Rome coues[sic] are budgd a beake, / And the quire coves tippe the lowre.
- 1611, Middleton, Thomas, “The Roaring Girl”, in Bullen, Arthur Henry, editor, The Works of Thomas Middleton, volume 4, published 1885, Act 5, Scene 1, pages 128–129:
- Ben mort, shall you and I heave a bough, mill a ken, or nip a bung, and then we'll couch a hogshead under the ruffmans, and there you shall wap with me, and I'll niggle with you.
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Related terms
- ben cove, ben cull