Coventry

(kuvən trē, käv-)

noun

a state of banishment; ostracism: to send someone to Coventry

Origin: prob. 17th-c. Cavalier use: the town was strongly Roundhead

city in central England, in West Midlands: county district pop. 294,000

See Coventry in American Heritage Dictionary 4

  1. A city of central England east-southeast of Birmingham. Famous as the home of Lady Godiva in the 11th century, Coventry was severely damaged in air raids during World War II (November 1940). Population: 303,000.
  2. A town of west-central Rhode Island southwest of Providence. It was settled in 1643 and was formerly a noted lacemaking center. Population: 34,700.

noun
A state of ostracism or exile: “It's not that smoke-filled rooms are back; smokers huddle in Coventry these days” (Flora Lewis).

Origin:

Origin: After Coventry1, England (possibly from the sending of Royalist prisoners there during the English Civil War)

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