ben mort

English

Alternative forms

• ben mot, ben mott, bene mort, bene mot, bene mott

Noun

ben mort (plural ben morts)

1. (obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) Good woman.
   • 1610, Samuel Rowlands, “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, Thomas Middleton, “The Roaring Girl”, in Arthur Henry Bullen, 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.

Related terms

• ben cove, ben cull