Vauxhall

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A district on the south bank of the Thames in London ; a British car brand that was once a subsidiary of General Motors ; a famous eighteenth-century pleasure garden that once stood in that area
2. A residential area of south London beside the river Thames ; a carmaker based in Luton that sells cars under a badge with a griffin ; an entertainment ground popular in the 1700s and early 1800s near the Thames
3. The London neighbourhood on the Thames's south bank ; the British automobile company whose vehicles are sold under a griffin emblem ; the historic gardens known for music, fireworks and promenades in the eighteenth century

Etymology: Vauxhall is a place name before it is anything else. The name is generally thought to date from the late 13th century and to come from Falkes de Breauté, the mercenary commander who served King John. He owned a large house in the area, which was known first as Faulke's Hall, then as Foxhall, and eventually as Vauxhall. So the word began as a personal name, attached to a building, and only later to the district around it. Each stage of the spelling shows the name being worn down by ordinary speech, with "Faulke" softening into "Foxhall" and then into the form we know today. The name then travelled far beyond London. It was applied to a gardens in the area that became famous, and the word came to stand for any such pleasure ground, and eventually for things named after the London place, including a car brand whose name came from the Vauxhall Iron Works.