Eastcheap

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A street and marketplace in the City of London, historically known as a center for fish and meat vendors from medieval times onward
2. A historic thoroughfare in London's old commercial district, famous in medieval and early modern periods as a bustling market for provisions and foodstuffs
3. An ancient London street notable as a longstanding market quarter where butchers, fishmongers, and other tradespeople sold their goods

Etymology: Its most surprising fact is that "cheap" once had nothing to do with price. In Old English, "ceap" meant trade, barter or a bargain, and a "ceap" was a marketplace. Eastcheap, the street in the City of London, was the eastern of two such markets, and its western counterpart, Cheapside, still keeps the name. Phrases like "good cheap" meant a good bargain, and the modern sense of "inexpensive" developed gradually out of this trading vocabulary. Shakespeare gave the street its literary fame. In "Henry IV", Prince Hal and Falstaff drink at the Boar's Head, a tavern in Eastcheap, so the name became linked in English writing with rowdy, low-life company. The Boar's Head was a real establishment in the area, which helped the connection stick.