Well attestedNamed from the place
Covent Garden abbess
noun · first attested 18th century
London's sex trade had its own printed annual directory for nearly forty years.
A procuress or brothel keeper.
51.5125°N -0.1225°W · Q55019
Record
- Relationship
- Named from the place
- Confidence
- Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
- Attested
- 18th century
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Covent Garden
- In English
Covent Garden abbess
Covent Garden was the center of London prostitution once the piazza had lost its fashionable residents, and its trade was catalogued in Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies, published annually from 1757 to 1795 with names, addresses and prices. Slang gave the district a mock convent: the abbess ran the house and the nuns worked in it. A Covent Garden ague meant venereal disease.
Also pinned to Covent Garden
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United Kingdom
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