Holy Land

In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.

Sense 1

Meaning · English

The Seven Dials area of London, England.

Register: slang

Examples

Before returning to Dickens's accounts of these places, it is interesting to read what Charles Booth had to say of Shelton Street as he saw it in 1889, at a time when wholesale demolitions carried out for the construction of New Oxford Street in 1847 and Shaftesbury Avenue in 1885 had cut a swathe t

Usage example from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)

Sources & notes

Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30 via kaikki.org).

Sense 2

Meaning · English

a very old term for the Seven Dials,—where St. Giles’s Greek is spoken.

Era: ca. 1874 (Victorian)

Where it’s used: Origin British & Irish English
Sources & notes

Historical definition reproduced from Hotten’s The Slang Dictionary (1874, public domain; Project Gutenberg #42108, retrieved 2026-07-31). Reflects the attitudes of its era.

Common questions

What does “Holy Land” mean?

The Seven Dials area of London, England.

Is “Holy Land” formal or informal?

Holy Land is generally slang.