Definition for: gay

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English

Etymology

From Old (and modern) French gai , of uncertain origin. Possibly from Latin gaudium ‘joy’. (Friedrich Christian Diez has suggested that it comes from Middle High German. The sense of "homosexual" is said by some to have come from an Arabic word via French; it is also said to come from the word's older sense of "dissolute".)

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɡeɪ/
  
• AHD: /gā/
  
• SAMPA: / geI/
• Rhymes: -eɪ

Adjective

gay ( comparative gayer , superlative gayest )

1. ( dated ) Happy, joyful, and lively.

   It's a wonderfully gay morning!

2. ( dated ) Festive, bright, or colourful.

   Don we now our gay apparel -- ( Deck the Halls [1])

   Pennsylvania Dutch include the plain folk and the gay folk.

3. Homosexual.
4. ( colloquial ) Characteristic of homosexual appearance or behavior (often in a stereotypical sense).

   That tight leather clothing looks a bit gay .

5. Feminine behavior, or, non-masculine behavior associated with females.
6. ( pejorative ) ( slang ) Annoying, boring, negative, unappealing; disliked.

   [Y]ou or someone you know has declared something gay in the last week. Not gay as in homosexual, but gay in that grade-school "That is so gay!" way, i.e. lame, wrongheaded, queer in the original sense. This is happening all around you. That woman's hairdo? Gay. That book jacket? Gay. The fact that Dick and Lynne Cheney won't talk about their lesbian daughter? Gay gay gay . -- Nancy Updike [2].

   This game is gay, let's play a different one.

Usage notes

• Gay is almost exclusively used today in the sense of homosexual and the related senses. The earlier uses of festive , colorful and bright can still be found, but have fallen out of fashion and are liable to be misunderstood; though if used in a way that suggests that a fashion is common among homosexuals, the two meanings do not contradict.
• Gay is preferred to homosexual by many gay (homosexual) people as their own term for themselves, claiming that homosexual is dated and evokes a time when homosexuality was considered a mental illness by the mental health community.

Translations

happy, joyful and lively

festive, bright, colorful/colourful

homosexual

typical of homosexual appearance, etc

slang

boring, unappealing, bad, low quality

gay ( plural gays )

1. a homosexual (most often a male homosexual but sometimes applied to female homosexuals, who are also called lesbians).

Usage notes

• Some homosexuals may prefer not to be referred to by this term, feeling that being known as "gays" depersonalises them and reduces them to little more than their sexual orientation. The terms they prefer use gay as an adjective only, as in "gay men".

Translations

Dictionary notes

• MSN Encarta Dictionary lists 5 adjective senses, marking "merry", "bright", "carefree", and "debauched" as dated , leaving only "homosexual" unmarked.

Other Translations for "gay"

Braille 6 Dot
Braille 8 Dot
Sign Language Spelling
Morse Code		gay
Hex		e7 e1 f9
Pig Latin		aygay

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