17th–18th century English thieves' cant compound: 'ben' (good) plus 'mort' (woman, from cant slang).
17th–18th century English thieves' cant compound: 'ben' (good) plus 'mort' (woman, from cant slang). The word 'mort' itself derives from older gypsy/Romani cant. 'Ben mort' could mean a respectable woman or, in context, a desirable female accomplice in criminal circles.
The pamphleteers warned that even a ben mort could be lured into the rum-pads if poverty pressed hard enough.
Add your own interpretation of "ben mort".
UK and Irish slang — Cockney, Scouse, Geordie, Yorkshire, Glaswegian, Brummie, Welsh, West Country, plus Irish English. Centuries of regional dialects feeding into modern British and Irish street talk.
See all British & Irish slang slang on Slangora.
Browse all slang words starting with B.
Archaic British thieves' cant for an attractive or pretty woman. 'Dimber' meant handsome or pretty in the cant vocabulary of 17th and 18th-century English criminals, while 'mort' was the cant word for a woman. The compound was used admiringly rather than disparagingly, though it belongs entirely to historical criminal slang.
(obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) Very good; excellent.
(obsolete, UK, thieves) A gentlewoman; a lady.
(archaic, UK, thieves) A pretty girl.
No comments yet — say something.
(obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) Good woman.
No comments yet — say something.