An obsolete piece of British thieves and vagabond cant for a lodging house that catered to tramps and vagabonds — essentially a dosshouse. Padding referred to the act of walking the roads (padding the hoof), and ken was cant for a house. Documented in 18th and 19th century slang dictionaries.
They found him in a padding-ken off the main road, sharing a mattress with four other travellers.
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(obsolete, UK, slang) A lodging house for tramps.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
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