Ayrton Senna

English

Etymology

After the racing driver.

Noun

Ayrton Senna (plural Ayrton Sennas)

1. (Cockney rhyming slang) Tenner (ten pound note)
   • 1995, Time Out London Guide‎^[1], Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 245:

     An Ayrton Senna (tenner) buys you 15 minutes of madness at Daytona & Indianapolis.

   • 2002, Manfred Görlach, Still more Englishes:

     Youngsters now talk of borrowing an Ayrton Senna (tenner), of feeling Calvin Klein (fine) or being Terry Waite (late).

   • 2004, Mervyn Stutter, Getting Nowhere Fast:

     You take this hundred quid in used Ayrton Sennas and I'll be off in the old Camilla Parker-Bowles.

   • 2008, Alfred fox, Anna's Story: Basset Mead‎^[2], page 24:

     “Here, an Ayrton Senna. Now if you can get the crisps and Pepsi, don't forget the mints, I'm going to get a 'nother name.”

   • 2012, John Philips, Who Cares Who's 3rd?: (Or 2nd for That Matter)‎^[3], page 346:

     'Thank you sir — an Ayrton Senna it is . . . every little helps'
     The weasel nodded vacantly, ruing the loss of his only tenner.

References

• Eric Partridge (2005) “Ayrton Senna”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, volumes 1 (A–I), London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 57.