autem cove

English

Alternative forms

• autum cove, autom cove

Noun

autem cove (plural autem coves)

1. (obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) A married man.
   • 1859, George Washington Matsell, The Vocabulum: or Rogues Lexicon, A Hundred Stretches Hence:

     Oh! where will be the culls of the bing / A hundred stretches hence? / The bene morts, who sweetly sing, / A hundred stretches hence? / The autum-cacklers, autum-coves, / The jolly blade who wildly roves; / And where the buffer, bruiser, blowen, / And all the cops and beaks so knowin', / A hundred stretches hence?

Related terms

• autem mort (“married woman”)

References

• Albert Barrère and Charles G[odfrey] Leland, compilers and editors (1889–1890) “autem cove”, in A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant […], volumes I (A–K), Edinburgh: […] The Ballantyne Press, →OCLC, page 54.
• John S[tephen] Farmer, compiler (1890) “autem cove”, in Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present. […], volume I, [London: […] Thomas Poulter and Sons] […], →OCLC, page 80.