Dictionaries:
gay:
1. A homosexual , a person whose affectional and sexual-orientation is towards members of the same sex . Although the word applies to both women and men (the differentiation is sometimes reinforced: gay man , lesbian woman), there is a sense that gay has been appropriated by men; many female homosexuals prefer to be known as lesbians ((From Lesbos; there is no corresponding eponym for a gay male.)2. The state of being homosexual ; homosexuality .
3. Homosexual; homoerotic ; pertaining to homosexual culture and homosexual people.
Etymology: In 13 th century France, gai / gahi refered to the cult of courtly love , a euphemism of the time for same-sex love , and gai / gaiol was a homosexual lover . In 17 th England, gay expanded from its earlier meaning of cheerful to include men with a reputation for promiscuity. Gay Lothario appeared the English in 1703. In the 18 th century the word gay was often allied to a women or girls to mean promiscuos or prostitutes; to be gay / gay-in-the-legs (groin or arse) meant to be promiscuous ; gaying-it meant to copulate ; a gaying-instrument was a penis , a gay-house was a brothel . In the 1890s, gay meant carefree, informal; to get gay meant to take (hetero)sexual liberties unimaginable just a decade earlier. The adoption of that word by homosexuals for self description originated during WWII, possibly by the adaptation of gey cat or gay cat , a prison and hobo slang term in the 1930s for a male homosexual , especially the homosexual companion of an older tramp . From Lawrence Paros in The Erotic Tongue (1984): ' Gay did not become associated with simulsex (early-20 th C .) activity until the early part of the twentieth century, and then it was primarily underground. It didn't go-public with this meaning until 1925, with the gay boy in Australia, and 1935 in the United States in the film Bringing Up Baby , in which Cary Grant donned a dress and commented how he had gone gay. Between 1955 and 1960, it captured everyone's fancy , culminating in the joyous outburst of the seventies .' Cary Grant, dressed in Katherine Hepburn's pink negligé, is aked by the aunt why is he so dressed; he jumps high up and shouts: ' Because I suddenly went gay! '
Quotes:
(1) C . Isherwood: ' Damned silly... A term which made us into frivolous idiots, sort of bliss-ninnies .'
(2) Vladimir Ivanoff (Robin Williams) a recent Russian immigrant to the US confronts a man who has been following him on the streets of New York in Moscow on the Hudson (1984):-- Vlad: ' FBI? '-- Man: ' FBI? No .'-- Vlad: ' KGB? '-- Man: ' KGB? No... G-A-Y .'-- Vlad: 'G?...A?...Y?... No! '
(3) Rachel (Liza D'Agostino) and Loretta (Nancy Allison Wolfe) in Bar Girls (1994):-- Rachel: ' Do you think I'm gay? '-- Loretta: ' What do you mean? '-- Rachel: ' Well, how do you know for sure? '-- Loretta: ' You just know that's all. It's like being French . Either you are or you're not .'
(4) Pino (Anthony de Sando) and a lesbian in Kiss Me Guido (1998):-- Pino: ' You're a lesbian? Hey, I'm sorry. You like girls? That's cool , me too, but you have no desire to do-it with a guy? '-- Lesbian: ' Do you? '-- Pino: ' That's disgusting! '-- Lesbian: ' Exactly .'
(5) Murray (Donald Faison) to Cher Hamilton (Alicia Silverstone) about her friend in Clueless (1995): ' Your man Christian is a cake-boy. (...) He's a disco-dancing, Oscar Wilde-reading, Streisand ticket-holder friend of Dorothy. Know what I'm saying? '
See Also: 175er, 49, 50:50, 501s, 59, abdicate, Abigail, abort, absolute code, abyss, accordion, acorn-picker, actress, actress starlette, Adam, advertising bar, advertising pilgrim, aggie, aging actress, Agnes, ahall, all bitched up, all butched up, all man, alley queen, allorgasmia, amyl queen, anal jabber, anal stormtrooper, Andrew phenomenon, angel, angel food, angel with a dirty face, antiman, ask for the ring, aspro, ass jabber, ass man, ass master, ass queen, ass thrasher, ass-peddler, asshole buddies, asspro, assume the position, aunt, auntie, ayuga, babette, Baby Crockett, baby-maker, back-door bandit, backs against the wall!, backs to the wall chaps!, backside artist, badido, bagger double entry, baggette, bait, bake potatoes, baker's closed, baker's dozen, bakery goods, ball-bearing stewardess, ballad bar, ballroom, bambi, bambi effect, bambi sex, band-member, Barbarella, bardajes, barfairy, bargain basement, basher, basket days, basket-watcher, basketeer, Bastille, bat, bat boy, bat-cave, baths, the, beach bitch, beach blanket, beach whale, beads, bean juice, bean queen, beany, bed breath, beefcake books, belly-fucker, belly-queen, bender, benny, benrus queen, bent-wrist, benzadrina, Betty Bouffant, Betty shits her dress, Betty shitting her shoes, Beulah-lover, bibbing, big dick queen, big woman, biker, bird cage, bird circuit, birdcage, birdcage cleaner, birdie, bitch's blind, bitch's Christmas, bitched up, bitches' Christmas, biting daddy, black snake, black widow, blackjack, bleeding dirt, blessing, BLG, blow hole, blown all over the map, blue handkerchief, bod-comic, bodyguard, bog queen, bold, bona omi, bonbon, bondage queen, bone queen, boot slave, boretto man, boss-queen, bottle of scent, bottle opener, bottom, bottom man, bouquet of pansies, bowl of wax fruit, boy pussy, boy's club, bracelet, break somebody in, breakthrough, breeder, breeder fish, brick shithouse, bring out (of the closet), broken-wrist, bronc, bronco, bronk, brother, brought out, brown artist, brown Betty, Brown family, brown hatter, brownie queen, browning, Browning family, browning queen, Browning sisters, bruise the fruit, buccaneer, buck, buckaruby, bucket, bucket boy, bucket head, buddy, buff-boy, buff-light, buffle, buffy, buggerantoes, built like a brick shithouse, bull party, buller, bum boys, bum chums, bumper-to-bumper, bumping pussies, bun woman, bungie-boy, burglar, bury the wick, bush bunny, bush patrol, bust one's beads, butch as Kong, butch cut, butch in the streets, butch it up, butched up, butcher, butcher boy, butchered chicken, butt book, butt pussy, butt slammer, butter, bake and baste, buttfuck buddy, cake-eater, Camille, camp, camp culture, camp it up, campfire girl, canasta, candy-maker, canned fruit, canned goods, career boy, Carmen Miranda, Carmen(cita), casket freak, Castro clone, catch, CFD, charactronym, chatty cathy, cheap thing, cherry boy, cherry flip, cherry top, chesty, Chicago Society for Human Rights, chicken, chicken butcher, chicken crotchetory, chicken hawk, chicken in the basket, chicken neck, chicken plucker, chicken pox, chicken snatchitori, chicken-house, chicken-little, chicken-meter, chicken-of-the-sea, chicken-with-a-basket, chin-strap, chinch pad, chipmunk, chocolate bunny, chocolate lover, chubby chaser, church member, Cinderella, cinnamon stick, clamp it silly, Clarence Coon, clean it up, clean kitchen, clean up, clone, closet name, closet queen, closet queer, closet, the, closeted, club date, clubhouse, coal burner, cocksman, COD, coffin queen, cohabitation, Colwyn Bay, come-freak, come-on boy, come-queen, cometosis, commercial queer, commoner, confirmed bachelor, controsexual, cook book, cornhole palace, cosmetic intuition, cottage, cottager, cottaging, countess, couple friend, crack run, cracking, crapper dick, crevice courier, crew-cut queen, Crisco cottage, crotch voyeur, crotch-peeper, Cruella, crunt, crushed fruit, Cuban pumps, Cubans, cucumber queen, cunnilinguate, cunt, cupcake, curry queen, Dahlia dyke, dainties, daisy chain, daisy duck, Daisy Dumpling, dandy, dangle queen, dangler, dash, daub of the brush, dazzle the audience, deadeye dick, decoy(er), deliver a baby, den (of sin), dethroned, dew, dew on the lily, dick-drinker, dig a ditch, Dilly, dilly dude, dinge queen, dinge-rim queen, DINKS, dinner beneath the bridge, dioning, discover one's gender, dish, ditsoon, diving in the sky, dizzy-queen, dog food, doll-tits, don't drop the soap!, Dorothy's friend, double-gaited, doul, Dowager Queen, dragon lady, drama queen, drape queen, draw the drapes, drive-in levis, drop one's beads, drop one's cookies, drop one's hairpins, drop ones load, drop the plate, Dutch dumplings, effeminative, effie, egg McMuff, egg McMuffin, entertaining royalty, European accentuation, explore the beads, eyeball the back of the closet door, FACE CREAM, fag bashing, fag busting, fag factory, fag hag, fag hots, fag magnet, fag-lang, faggot worker, faglish, fairy godmother, fairy hawk, fallen star, falsies, fart slime, fast food sex, fay, felch queen, felching, fellate, fem, femme, FFA, filly, fish, flag, flame, flinking, flip side, floater, flophouse, floral arrangement, fly-trap, flytrap, forty-niner, four-letter word, freejack, French embassy, French revolution, French woman, French-fried ice cream, Friend of Dorothy, fruit, fruit cup, fruit-picker, fruity, fuck passage, fudy, fugitive from a chain gang, funch, funk-a-thon, funny that way, he's, futy, Gabe Asher, gaelic, Gail, Galilee stompers, gander, gape, gay, gay basher, gay bashing, gay chicken, gay deceivers, gay for pay, gay gene, gay ghetto, gay girl, gay house, gay in the legs, gay it up, gay lib, gay liberation, gay life, gay lingo, gay milk bar, gay rights, gay slang, gay wench, gay woman, gay youthism, gay-leria, gaybee boom, gaycat, gaychick, gaydar, gaydom, gaying instrument, gaying it, gaylese, gayola, gaytalk, geriatric set, Geritol set, geycat, GHM, ginny woman, girl scout, glass asshole, GLB, glory hole, glory hole sex, gloryhole, gobette, god-forbid, golden shower queen, gonorita, goober smoocher, good buddy, goop-gobbler, gooser, gorilla salad, goy toy, Grand Canyon, grandma, gray lady, greenhouse, grimm's fairy, groceries, gunch, gunsel, gutter limits, GWM, hairy Mary, have a dash of lavender, have some cream sauce, he-male, he-man, hemale, herosexual, hettie, hidden queen, high Russian, high Texan, hint of lavender, hint of mint, hip-hitter, hips, lips and armpits, hitchpussy, homo-, homoerotophobia, homogenic, homophile, homophobia, homophobic, homosocial, hose, hot enchilada, hot tamale, huffle, humpy, Hundred-And-Seventy-Fiver, hunky, hypothalamus, ice queen, ice-cube sandwich, icing expert, icing queen, ILGA, ill-piece, impale, in-sisters, INAH, iron closet, iron jaws, isosexual, jaihouse turnout, jail bait, jailhouse pussy, jawfest, jean queen, jewelry showcase, jock and boxer, jocker, joto, Juanita, jungle meat, kabuki, King Lear, Kinsey One, Kinsey Six, kissing fish, kitchen cleaner, kitchen queen, knitting, knitting needle, KY cow house, lace, lace curtains, lacy, lanoola, laundry, lavender, lay it out, LBGT, learn a new way, left hip pocket, left-handed, lesbian, lesbian feminist, let one's hair down, lilies of the valley, lily-livered, limp-wrist, limp-wristed, Lincoln tunnel, line-up, lipstick, lipstick on a dipstick, little brother, load, lollipop stop, look bar, loose in his loafers, lose one's gender, lover under the lap, lunch, lunch box, lunch-meat, lunchbox, luncheonette, mack, mackin', madge, make a milk run, make a pit stop, make the blind see, make the milk run, mamacita, man pussy, man-hole, manhole, marble palace, meat case, meatrack, Mexicali Rose, midnight queen, milky way, the, Miss Morales, Miss Thing, Miss Tijuana, missionary work, mixed fruits and vegetables, moll house, molly house, molly shop, money trick, Morticia, mustache ride, Nanette, nearsighted, negrera, Nora Naugahide, Norman Normal, nudger, old crank case, old faceful, old girl, old hen, old queen, old thing, on the bash, oncer, oscarize, oscarizing, out, outed, oyster, oyster stew, packet, paint the bucket, pansyland, Paris brothers, pasture woman, pearl, peasants, peculator pecker, peephole squad, penile colony, perch, pichon, picnic lunch, pig room, pimple joint, pimple palace, pine, pink panther gay libber, pink triangle, pissy queen, pitch, plank, play checkers, play chess, play chipmunk, play the organ, playing canasta, playing hoopsnake, poke, poodle queen, poofter, poofy, poon, poovy, pop a cherry, possesh, pretender to the throne, pricknic, pricnic, princepessa, privates, privy queen, props, protein queen, prune person, punkie, puppy flesh, Purple Hand, The, pushing box, quail, queen, queen bees, Queen Mary, Queen of Hearts, Queen of Scotch, Queen of Sheba, Queen of Spades, queen on a broomstick, queen's Christmas, queen's gilded cage, queen's tanks, queen's vernacular, queenie, queer, queerie, quickie station, Ramona Rottencrotch, ranchera, rancid flower, rattle the (giddy) beads, read the beads, reamo ream, reary, rich cream sauce, ride the deck, right hip pocket, right-handed, rimadonna, Rimsky, ring around the rosey, RM, road game, road queen, roarer, Roman historian, rosebud, rough-trade, round pussy, round-mouth, royal jelly, rub bellies, rub freak, rub-belly, rubber, rubber necking, rubber queen, rumpy, sad-ass, saddle it, sailor's cup of tea, Sally, same sex love, sausage jockey, sausage party, scarf (up), scatophiliac, sea food, sea-fairy, senoreater, sew, sexteen, sexteenager, shell queen, shrimp, shrimp job, shrimp queen, shrimper, simulsex, simulsexual, sing the sailor songbook, sissies, sissified, sissyish, sister act, six à neuf, sixty-nine queen, size queen, skeet shooting, ski up and down Happy Valley, skillful skull, Skinny rubbing, slip into, smearing the queer, snapping turtle, sniff queen, snow queen, soiled senior citizen, soup, soupy, south-of-the-border tart, Spanish Rose, spider lady, spit-fuck, square, squelching, stag hag, stand up job, Stonewall Uprising, The, stool pigeon, stuff a turkey, suck-queen, suckstress, sunkist queen, super J, swing on it, swishy, T-room, taco queen, tail bone, tailgator, take somebody on, take the meat out, take the sheet, talk turkey, tamale-pie eater, tar brush, tasty-cover(s), tat, tat queen, tattoo boy, tattoo queen, tavern maid, tea dance, tea engagement, tea room, tea room trade, tea towel holder, teahouse, team player, tearoom, tearoom trade, telefag, tell the folks, tender talent, tenderfoot, tent, thirty-day boy, thirty-forty-dead, three-bee, three-letter man, throne queen, tiara, Tijuana queen, timesqueer, Tina Tuna, tinkler-belle, tired-old queen, tired-old thing, tisket a-tasket, tit queen, titty, titty-freak, toe queen, toe-jam queen, Toilet Tessie, toilet water, token chicken, token-fag queers, token-queer, Tommy Dodd, tondalayo, tonsila, torch job, Tosos, toss a salad, toss freaks, toss him off, toss the salad, touch-me-not garden, touche pipi, tour time, tourist, track two, trade, trading post, tranny fucker, trans-fag, TransLesBiGay, tranz-fag, trapper, traveler's aid, traveling salesman, trick day, trick night, trick-cyclist, triple treat queen, Trojan horse, troll, trolling ground, trolling the toilet, true confession, tube queen, tumble a fruit, tuna, turn one out, turn out, turn over, turn someone out, turn the corner, turnover, TV style, twink, twinkboner, twinkie, twinky, two snaps up, undercover man, untried, upside-down cake, uranian, uranist, urinal sniffer, usurper, vacuum cleaner, Vagina Littlefinger, valley of tears, vampire, vampire run, vanilla queen, vanilla sex, Vaseline Villa, vault, vegetable, vegetarian, Venetian blinds, Venus with a penis, Veronica, very gay, view master, view queen, Viking queen, village people, virgin queen, Virginia, waiter, waiteress, wall job, wall queen, wand, wash the egg out, washroom faggot, watchtower, water chestnut, water lilies, wave, wax fruit, wax museum, wear a cut-glass veil, wear giddy beads, wear one's badge, wheelchair set, whomp down on it, whomp it up, whore you?, whorella, widowed aunt, Wilde Oscar, wings, woof up on it, working girl, working my last gay nerve, wreck, wreck somebody's beads, wrecked, wrecking company, Xerox queen, Yankees yawn, yeastful buns a plenty, yeomanette, yodel in the canyon (of love), yodel up in the canyon (of love), yodeling in the canyon (of love), yodeling in the gully, yummies, yummy down on it, yummy it down, yummy up on it, zoo queen
Quotes Containing gay:
Gay graffiti : ''The closet is an awful place to die .''
Gay graffiti : ''The closet is an awful place to die .''
Gay slogan: ''Homosexuality is not a four-letter-word .''
Gay slogan: ''Homosexuality is not a four-letter-word .''
Jodie Dallas (Billy Crystal) and Jessica Gatling Tate (Katherine Helmond) confusing Plato (the Greek philosopher) with Pluto (thecartoon dog) in the TV series Soap (1977): - Jodie: ''Plato was gay .'' - Jessica: ''Mickey Mouse''s dog was gay?!'' - Jodie: ''Goofy was his lover .''
Meg (Mary Kay Place) to Sarah (Glenn Close) on the subject of dating in The Big Chill (1983):'They're either married or gay . And if they're not gay , they've just broken up with the most wonderful woman in the world or they've just broken up with a bitch who looks just like me. They're in transition from a monogamous relationship and they need more space or they're tired of space but they just can't commit or they want to commit but they're afraid to get close. They want to get close, you don't want to get near them.'
Sandy (Teri Garr) and Michael Dorsey (Dustin Hoffman) in Tootsie (1982): - Sandy: ''Michael, are you gay?'' - Michael: ''In what sense?''
About Robert being gay in The Next Best Thing (2000): ''He definitely fals into the what-a-waste category.''
Libby Holden (Kathy Bates) in Primary Colors (1998): ''I am a gay lesbian woman! I do not mythologize the male sexual organ!''
Gay Langland (Clark Gable) to Roslyn Taber (Marilyn Monroe) in The Misfits (1961): ''Nothing can live unless something dies. ''
Carol Brady (Shelley Long) in A Very Brady Sequel (1996): ''I wish I could be gay again.''
Libby Holden (Kathy Bates) in Primary Colors (1998): ''I am a gay lesbian woman! I do not mythologize the male sexual organ!''
Emily (Joan Cusack) in In & Out (1997): ''Is everybody gay? Is this a Twilight Zone?''
'I wish I could be gay again.' Carol Brady (Shelley Long) in A Very Brady Sequel (1996)
Hortense (Alice Brady) about men in The Gay Divorcee (1934): ''There''s nothing different about any of them except their neckties.''
Hortense (Alice Brady) about men in The Gay Divorcee (1934): ''There''s nothing different about any of them except their neckties.''
Gay joke: ''Turn over. I want to slip-into something comfortable.''
''I never knew a woman to look better in the morning than she does at night.'' Gay Langland (Clark Gable) to Roslyn Taber (Marilyn Monroe) in The Misfits (1961)
Two gay males, Terry and Warren (Anthony Barrile) in Kiss me Guido (1998): - Terry: ''Me, I''m versatile . I like to be a top or a bottom .'' - Warren: ''Oh, please, Terry. You have bottom stamped on your forehead.''
George Bianco (Leo Rossi) to his gay friend Sonny Rivers (Eric Idle) who is off to procreate with Susan in order to keep an inheritance of $200,000,000 in Too Much Sun (1991): - George: ''At least be a man!'' - Sonny: ''What does that mean?'' - George: ''Make sure you''re on top .''
Franky/Francesca (Ione Skye) to her gay cousin who lied to his father about having a girlfriend in Dream for an Insomniac (1999): ''Is it a little stuffy in that closet there, Roberto?''
Franky/Francesca (Ione Skye) to her gay cousin who lied to his father about having a girlfriend in Dream for an Insomniac (1999): ''Is it a little stuffy in that closet there, Roberto?''
'You know , as the Alcalde's wife , I must play many, many roles, but the people only see the part I play in public. Only a few select friends know my private-parts .' Florinda (Brenda Vaccaro) to Don Diego Vega (George Hamilton) in Zorro, The Gay Blade (1981)
'They say the navy makes men. Well, I'm living proof they made me.' Ramon Vega (George Hamilton), who has now changed his name to Bunny Wigglesworth, to his brother Diego (George Hamilton) in Zorro, The Gay Blade (1981)
Gay Langland (Clark Gable) to Roslyn Taber (Marilyn Monroe) in The Misfits (1961): ''We all have to go some time, reason or no reason. Dying is as natural as living. A man who''s afraid to die is afraid to live.''
Rachel (Liza D''Agostino) and Loretta (Nancy Allison Wolfe) in Bar Girls (1994): - Rachel: ''Do you think I''m gay?'' - Loretta: ''What do you mean?'' - Rachel: ''Well, how do you know for sure?'' - Loretta: ''You just know that''s all. It''s like being French . Either you are or you''re not.''
Two gay males, Terry (Craig Chester) and Warren (Anthony Barrile), in Kiss me Guido (1998): - Terry: ''Me, I''m versatile . I like to be a top or a bottom .'' - Warren: ''Oh, please, Terry. You have bottom stamped on your forehead.''
Florinda (Brenda Vaccaro) to Don Diego Vega (George Hamilton) in Zorro, The Gay Blade (1981): ''You know , as the Alcalde''s wife , I must play many, many roles, but the people only see the part I play in public. Only a few select friends know my private-parts .''
Rachel (Liza D''Agostino) and Loretta (Nancy Allison Wolfe) in Bar Girls (1994): - Rachel: ''Do you think I''m gay?'' - Loretta: ''What do you mean?'' - Rachel: ''Well, how do you know for sure?'' - Loretta: ''You just know that''s all. It''s like being French . Either you are or you''re not.''
Two gay males, Terry (Craig Chester) and Warren (Anthony Barrile), in Kiss me Guido (1998): - Terry: 'Me, I'm versatile . I like to be a top or a bottom .' - Warren: 'Oh, please, Terry. You have bottom stamped on your forehead.'
Drag queens Noxema/Zima Jackson/Auntie Noxy (Wesley Snipes) and Chichi Rodriquez (John Leguizamo) in To Wong Foo. Thanks for Everything. Julie Newmar (1995): - Noxema: ''Darling, if you''re going to become a drag-queen , you''re gonna have to learn these things. '' - Chichi: ''What do you mean ''a drag queen''? I am a drag queen!'' - Noxema: ''Oh, child, no , no , no . You''re simply a boy in a dress. When a straight man puts a dress and gets his sexual kick he is a transvestite ; when a man is a woman trapped in a man''s body and has the little operation he is a transsexual ; (...) when a gay man has way too much fashion sense for one gender he is a drag-queen . (...) And when a light little Latin boy puts on a dress he is simply a boy in a dress.'' In the end , they agree to give Chichi the temporary title of ''drag princess .''
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