gentry cove

English

Alternative forms
  • gentry cofe

Noun

gentry cove (plural gentry coves)

  1. (obsolete, Britain, thieves' cant) A gentleman.
    • 1621, Jonson, Ben, The Gypsies Metamorphosed:
      As priest of the game, / And prelate of the same. / There's a gentry cove here.
    • 1837, Disraeli, Benjamin, chapter XIV, in Venetia:
      'The gentry cove will be romboyled by his dam,' said a third gipsy. 'Queer Cuffin will be the word yet, if we don't tout.'
    • 2012, Ross, Kate, A Broken Vessel:
      He's a go among the goes, is Mr. Kestrel. He's only got to sport a new kind of topper, or tie his crumpler a new way, and every gentry-cove in town does just the same.

Derived terms
  • gentry cove's ken (“a gentleman's house”)

References
  • Farmer, John Stephen (1893) Slang and Its Analogues‎, volume 3, page 132
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