Re: "gay" whores?

From: Keith GOERINGER (verbivore_at_comcast.net)
Date: 09/14/04 

Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2004 16:54:43 -0400

Folks,

> I have been in a discussion with someone in another ng who claims to
> have seen, in a dictionary, the word 'gay' meaning 'a woman of easy
> morals; prostitute'. I have never heard of this usage, nor could I find
> it in my dictionaries. Has anyone seen or heard such? (It isn't far
> from some definitions, meaning 'licentious; wanton', but not
> specifically in reference to a female!) I'm thinking it's either
> dialectal or obsolete.

Thanks to those (AlexV, Ben, Jacques, and "therink") who replied -- I'm
glad to know that I haven't been missing out... ;) I'll pass this
along to the person I've been going at it with, and maybe he'll accept
that it's 19th-century usage!

Regards,
Keith

Relevant Pages

  • Re: I mean for you to see = ?
    ... >> I thought that in the English language majority use, ... but usage seems to be used by relatively few writers. ... > Do general Spanish dictionaries include usages with which the Spanish ... > follow the usage of, not a simple majority of speakers, but the ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: Neighbo(u)rhood
    ... >> couple of dictionaries as if that completely settled the matter, ... > I meant to do no more than point out that the questioned usage was ... What surprised me a little was the full COD entry: ... the first sense could be modified to something like ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: Miscellaneous French & German to English.
    ... A brief survey of online ... notions of mother wit or common sense. ... the usage and this would likely be a definition unknown to the vast majority ...
    (sci.lang.translation)
  • Re: Grammer question - is "hir" grammatically correct?
    ... which spelling gets more hits. ... Google is in charge of English spelling. ... Some dictionaries explicitly aim to tell you which usages are approved ... without any warning to the effect that this usage may cause your boss ...
    (rec.arts.sf.written)
  • Re: I mean for you to see = ?
    ... > I thought that in the English language majority use, ... but usage seems to be used by relatively few writers. ... Do general Spanish dictionaries include usages with which the Spanish ... follow the usage of, not a simple majority of speakers, but the ...
    (alt.usage.english)