Word.ws English Dictionary

billingsgate

billingsgate noun: profane, abusive language; coarse words.

Noun

billingsgate

  1. Profane, abusive language; coarse words.
    • You wouldn't have believed the billingsgate which poured forth from that boy's mouth.
    • These "flytings" consisted of alternate torrents of sheer Billingsgate poured upon each other by the combatants.1898, George Saintsbury, A Short History of English Literature

Verb

billingsgate (third-person singular simple present billingsgates, present participle billingsgating, simple past and past participle billingsgated)

  1. (transitive) To use profane, abusive language towards.
    • On the other hand, the Englishman has the satisfaction of Billingsgating to his heart's content the highest officials: they accept objurgation with spaniel fawning.1905, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, volume 177, page 99

Proper noun capitalized: Billingsgate

Billingsgate

  1. A ward of the City of London, Greater London, England.
    • And vppon fridaye the morowe after brought it vpp to Billynges gate in London1569, C. R., The true discripcion of this marueilous straunge Fishe, whiche was taken on thursday was sennight, the .xvi. day of June, this present month, in the yeare of our Lord God. M.DLX.ix.

billingsgate meaning in Tamil

billingsgate in Tamil

அங்காடி கூச்சல், வசைமொழி, வசையாப்பு, வசைமாரி

Forms of billingsgate

Verb
third-person singular presentbillingsgates
present participlebillingsgating
past participlebillingsgated
pastbillingsgated
Proper noun
alternative form (obsolete)Billynges gate

Origin of billingsgate

From the London, England fishmarket Billingsgate: "Billingsgate is the market where the fishwomen assemble to purchase fish; and where, in their dealings and disputes they are somewhat apt to leave decency and good manners a little on the left hand." (Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1811).

Words formed from billingsgate

Phrases with billingsgate

Questions about billingsgate

What does billingsgate mean?
Billingsgate means profane, abusive language; coarse words.
What is billingsgate in Tamil?
Billingsgate in Tamil is அங்காடி கூச்சல், வசைமொழி, வசையாப்பு. See Billingsgate meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is billingsgate?
Billingsgate can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.

Words near billingsgate in the dictionary

  1. billings
  2. billings and cooings
  3. Billings County
  4. billingsellacean
  5. billingsellaceans
  6. billingsgate
  7. Billingsgate pheasant
  8. Billingsgate pheasants
  9. billingsgated
  10. billingsgates
  11. billingsgating

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: billingsgate (page history and authors); Billingsgate (page history and authors); billingsgate (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “billingsgate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/billingsgate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.