ben mort

plural ben morts · alternative ben mot · alternative ben mott · alternative bene mort · alternative bene mot · alternative bene mott

1. UKobsoletethieves' cantGood woman.

   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.

   1610, Samuel Rowlands, “Towre Out Ben Morts”, in Farmer, John Stephen, editor, Musa Pedestris, published 1896, page 5

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   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.

   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