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Well attestedNamed from the place

Fulham virgin

noun · first attested 19th century

Fulham was English slang for cheating long before it was slang for vice.

A promiscuous woman or a prostitute.

Fulham·United Kingdom

51.4767°N -0.2138°W · Q3367868

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Record

Relationship
Named from the place
Confidence
Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
Attested
19th 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.

How it traveled
  1. Step 1

    Fulham

  2. In English

    Fulham virgin

The entry

Loaded dice were called fullams or fulhams from the sixteenth century, a name attached to the same riverside district, and Shakespeare uses the word in The Merry Wives of Windsor. The nineteenth century added Fulham virgin to a long list of London place names used for prostitutes, beside Covent Garden nun, Drury Lane vestal and Bankside lady. The phrase is an oxymoron, which is the whole joke.

United Kingdom

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