Rhyming slang is a form of phrase construction in the
English language that is especially prevalent in dialectal English from the
East End of London; hence the alternative name,
Cockney rhyming slang. The construction involves replacing a common word with a rhyming phrase of two or three words and then, in almost all cases, omitting the secondary rhyming word (which is thereafter implied), in a process called
hemiteleia, making the origin and meaning of the phrase elusive to listeners not in the know.