abandoned habits

English

Etymology

Pun on abandoned (“immoral”) habit and riding habit (“woman's garment for horseback riding”).

Noun

abandoned habits pl (plural only)

  1. (archaic, British slang) The clothing worn for horseback riding by the prostitutes on Lady's Mile in Hyde Park (the carriageway along the northern bank of the Serpentine).

References
  • Albert Barrère and Charles G[odfrey] Leland, compilers and editors (1889–1890), “abandoned habits”, in A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant […], volume I (A–K), Edinburgh: […] The Ballantyne Press, →OCLC, page 2.
  • Farmer, John Stephen (1890) Slang and Its Analogues‎, volume 1, page 3
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