Obs.–1 [f. the surname of Sir John Coventry, on whose mutilation by the king’s friends in 1670 the Coventry Act (22–3 Chas. II., c. 1) against nose-slitting and maiming was passed.] To slit the nose of.
1704. W. Bisset, Plain Eng., 55. Tho’ I were sure to be cudgell’d or Coventry’d, or have my Throat cut the next hour.
