An archaic British term for a woman, derived from the thieves' cant word 'cove' (a man, a fellow) with a feminine suffix.
An archaic British term for a woman, derived from the thieves' cant word 'cove' (a man, a fellow) with a feminine suffix. The word belongs to the cant vocabulary of 17th and 18th-century British criminal and underworld speech and has no meaningful modern usage.
The old cant dictionary listed covess alongside mort and bawdy-basket as terms for women of various kinds.
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(obsolete, UK, thieves) A married man.
Old thieves' cant for a gentleman — someone with money, manners, and a target on their back. In the criminal underworld of 18th-century Britain, a gentry cove was the mark worth following through a crowded market. The word "cove" was slang for any man or fellow, while "gentry" flagged his social class. It's the ancestor of every hustle that separates marks from their cash.
(obsolete, UK, thieves) A gentleman.
(archaic, thieves' cant) A parish pensioner.
(archaic, British) A woman.