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Hans Carvel's ring
Definition
Or: Carvels' ring , a literary metaphor for the vagina; also a device that will ensure a wife's fidelity. See vagina for synonyms.Quote: Francis Grose. Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1811): ' Ham Carvel, a jealous old doctor, being in bed with his wife, dreamed that the Devil gave him a ring, which, so long as he had it on his finger, would prevent his being made a cuckold: waking he found he had got his finger the Lord knows where.' ( ( Lord knows where is an obvious euphemism for the wife's vagina.) Captain Grose based his definition on a story by the French humorist and satyrist François Rabelais (1490-1551).
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