slap-bang-shops
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
Originally low eating-houses where the ready-money was paid down with a SLAP-BANG.—Grose. A SLAP-BANG-SHOP is now a very pretentious eating-house.
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 “slap-bang-shops” mean?
Originally low eating-houses where the ready-money was paid down with a SLAP-BANG.—Grose. A SLAP-BANG-SHOP is now a very pretentious eating-house.
Is “slap-bang-shops” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.