<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> Look up send to Coventry in Wiktionary, the free dictionary . </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> Look up send to Coventry in Wiktionary, the free dictionary . </Td> </Tr> <P> To send someone to Coventry is an English idiom meaning to deliberately ostracise someone . Typically, this is done by not talking to them, avoiding their company, and generally pretending that they no longer exist . Victims are treated as though they are completely invisible and inaudible . The Coventry referred to in the phrase is a cathedral city in the West Midlands . </P> <P> The origins of this phrase are unknown, although it is quite probable that events in Coventry in the English Civil War in the 1640s play a part . One hypothesis as to its origin is based upon The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, by Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon . In this work, Clarendon recounts how Royalist troops that were captured in Birmingham were taken as prisoners to Coventry, which was a Parliamentarian stronghold . These troops were often not received warmly by the locals . </P>

Where does the expression being sent to coventry come from