Covent Garden

English

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /kʌvənt ɡɑːdən/, /kɒvənt ɡɑːdn/
Audio (UK) (file)

Proper noun

Covent Garden

A district in central London.
The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

Derived terms

Noun

Covent Garden (plural Covent Gardens)

(Cockney rhyming slang, archaic) A farthing.

Usage notes

The rhyme comes from a contemporary colloquial pronunciation of farthing as "farden" [ˈfɑː(ɹ)dən].

References

Albert Barrère and Charles G[odfrey] Leland, compilers and editors (1889–1890), “Covent Garden”, in A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant […], volume I (A–K), Edinburgh: […] The Ballantyne Press, →OCLC, pages 275–276.
Farmer, John Stephen (1891) Slang and Its Analogues‎, volume 2, page 193

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