ΤΙ ΕΙΝΑΙ GAY? ΑΠΟΣΠΑΣΜΑ ΑΠΟ ΤΗΝ ONLINE ΒΡΕΤΤΑΝΙΚΗ ΒΙΒΛΙΟΘΗΚΗ

SECOND EDITION 1989
gay, a., adv., and n.

(ge) Forms: 4-6 gai(e, 4-7 gaye, (9 Sc. gaie), 4- gay. [a. F. gai (recorded from 12th c.) = Pr. gai, guai (? jai), OSp. gayo, Pg. gaio, It. gajo. The ulterior etymology is disputed: the view of Diez, that the word is a. OHG. gâhi swift, headlong (mod.Ger. jähe), is now generally abandoned. An etymon more satisfactory both with regard to sense and phonology is OHG. wâhi pretty (MHG. whe, mod. dial. wæh); but some scholars doubt whether the Rom. forms can represent a Ger. word with medial h. The sense ‘slack, not closely fitting’, which exists in all the Rom. langs. (though not recorded very early in any of them) may possibly be of etymological significance.]
A. adj.
1. a. Of persons, their attributes and actions: Full of or disposed to joy and mirth; manifesting or characterized by joyous mirth; light-hearted, exuberantly cheerful, sportive, merry.
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a1310 in Wright Lyric P. xvi. 52 Heo is..Graciouse, stout, ant Gay, Gentil, jolyf so the jay. c1386 CHAUCER Miller's T. 153 This Absolon, that iolif was and gay, Gooth with a sencer on the haliday. c1440 York. Myst. xxix. 291 Boy, be not agaste if we seme gaye. 1514 BARCLAY Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.) p. lii, Making the tapster come gay and feate. 1706 STANHOPE Paraphr. III. 367 That gay insulting Man was particularly careful to distinguish himself from his poor dejected Companion. 1784 COWPER Task I. 493 Whom call we gay? The lark is gay. 1795-1814 WORDSW. Excurs. III. 507 The choir Of gay companions. 1812 J. WILSON Isle of Palms I. 58 Smiles wander o'er thy placid face As if thy dreams were gay. 1843 LYTTON Last Bar. I. i, Edward was the handsomest, the gayest, and the bravest prince in Christendom. 1849 MACAULAY Hist. Eng. iv. I. 431 He made an effort to converse with them in his usual gay style. 1880 OUIDA Moths II. 123, I knew he was gay and careless.
1730-46
transf. 1730-46 THOMSON Autumn 705 Quick As is the wit it gives, the gay champagne.
17891712
1821
absol. 1712 POPE Ep. to Miss Blount 16 And the gay mourn'd, who never mourn'd before. 1789 W. BUCHAN Dom. Med. (1790) 89 That greatest of human blessings [sleep]..visits the happy, the cheerful, and the gay. 1821 CRAIG Lect. Drawing viii. 440 To the youthful and gay, I would recommend these studies most particularly.
b. Of a horse: Lively, prancing. [So in Fr.] rare1.
1826
1826 DISRAELI Viv. Grey VI. ii, As spruce a cavalier as ever pricked gay steed on the pliant grass.
c. With implied sense of depreciation: Airy, off-hand.
1779-81
1779-81 JOHNSON L.P., Pope Wks. IV. 21 Fenton..made him a gay offer of five pounds. Ibid. 99 Gay indifference.
d. In poetry: Applied to women, as a conventional epithet of praise. Obs. (Cf. FREE a. 3.)
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1599
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c1350 Will. Palerne 816 Whan e gaye gerles . were into e gardin come, Faire floures ei founde . of fele maner hewes. c1386 CHAUCER Miller's T. 583 Some gay gerl..Hath broght yow thus vpon the viritoot. 1599 SHAKES. Pass. Pilgr. 225 The learned man hath got the lady gay. a1802 Prince Robert in Child Ballads IV. 284 Prince Robert has wedded a gay ladye, He has wedded her with a ring.
e. the gay science: a rendering of gai saber, the Provençal name for the art of poetry.
18551813
1813 W. TAYLOR in Monthly Rev. LXX. 455 So little of an heroic or tragic cast had their effusions, that they termed poetry the gay science. 1855 MILMAN Lat. Chr. IV. 313 Not forbidding himself those amorous indulgences which were the reward of chivalrous valour, and of the ‘gay science’.
f. Forward, impertinent, too free in conduct, over-familiar; usu. in phr. to get gay. U.S. slang.
18991896
191519111901
1896 W. C. GORE in Inlander Jan. 147 Get gay, to joke boisterously; to show off; to act ‘smart’. 1899 ADE Fables in Slang 109 The Copper, perceiving that he had come very near getting Gay with our First Families, apologized for Cutting In. 1901 MERWIN & WEBSTER Calumet ‘K’ xii. 226 He got gay one day. I warned him once, and then I threw him off the distributing floor. 1911 J. F. WILSON Land Claimers vi. 80 And I wouldn't get gay round her. 1915 WODEHOUSE Something Fresh iv, The flush on the little man's face deepened. ‘Are you trying to get gay with me?’ he demanded dangerously.
g. Of a dog's tail: carried high or erect.
19521927
1927 W. H. DOWLING in C. C. Sanderson Pedigree Dogs 334 Tail.Should be carried proudly, curved or plumed in a tight curl over and close to the back (never gay as in a ‘Peke’). 1952 C. L. B. HUBBARD Pembr. Corgi Handbk. 111 Gay tail, one which from root to tip is carried over the horizontal.
2. a. Addicted to social pleasures and dissipations. Often euphemistically: Of loose or immoral life. Esp. in gay dog , a man given to revelling or self-indulgence; gay Lothario : see LOTHARIO .
1637
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1637 SHIRLEY Lady of Pleasure v. K1b, Lord. You'le not be angry, Madam. Cel. Nor rude, though gay men have a priviledge. 1700 T. BROWN tr. Fresny's Amusem. Ser. & Com. 130 Every Dunce of a Quack, is call'd a Physician..Every Gay thing, a Chevalier. 1703 ROWE Fair Penit. V. i, Is this that Haughty, Gallant, Gay Lothario? 1754 Adventurer No. 124 7 The old gentleman, whose character I cannot better express than in the fashionable phrase which has been contrived to palliate false principles and dissolute manners, had been a gay man, and was well acquainted with the town. 1791 BURKE Let. to Member Nat. Assembly Wks. VI. 36 The brilliant part of men of wit and pleasure, or gay, young, military sparks. 1798 FERRIAR Illustr. Sterne ii. 40 The dissolute conduct of the gay circles in France is not of modern date. 1847 H. ROGERS Ess. I. v. 214 For some years he lived a cheerful, and even gay, though never a dissipated life, in Paris. 1849 MACAULAY Hist. Eng. vi. II. 103 The place was merely a gay suburb of the capital. 1851 MAYHEW Lond. Labour I. 382 The principal of the firm was what is termed ‘gay’. He was particularly fond of attending public entertainments. He sported a little as well, and delighted in horse-racing. 1891 E. PEACOCK N. Brendon I. 302 This elder Narcissa had led a gay and wild life while beauty lasted. 1897 J. HUTCHINSON Archives Surg. VIII. 224 My patient was a married man, who admitted having been very gay in early life. 1900 G. SWIFT Somerley 54 Oh! that first kiss! how proud of it we are, what gay dogs we feel! 1910 S. KAYE-SMITH Spell Land xix. 221 He felt rather a gay dog.
1849
absol. 1849 MACAULAY Hist. Eng. ii. I. 196 On the vices of the young and gay he looked with..aversion.
b. Hence, in slang use, of a woman: Leading an immoral life, living by prostitution.
1885186818571825
1825 C. M. WESTMACOTT Eng. Spy II. 22 Two sistersboth gay. 1857 J. E. RITCHIE Night Side Lond. 40 The gay women, as they are termed, are worse off than American slaves. 1868 Sund. Times 19 July 5/1 As soon as ever a woman has ostensibly lost her reputation, we, with a grim inappositeness, call her ‘gay’. 1885 Hull & Linc. Times 26 Dec. 8/4 She was leading a gay life.
c. Of a person: homosexual. Of a place: frequented by homosexuals. slang.
19631960195519511935
1935 N. ERSINE Underworld & Prison Slang 39 Geycat,..a homosexual boy. 1951 E. LAMBERT Sleeping-House Party vii. 74 In a way it was an odd threesome. It occurred to me that Esther rather hung round our two gay boys. 1955 P. WILDEBLOOD Against Law I. 23 Most of the officers at the station had been ‘gay’..an American euphemism for homosexual. Ibid. III. 105 The place [sc. a prison] is packed with gay people who are in for something else. 1960 [see BENT ppl. a. 5c]. 1963 A. HERON Towards Quaker View of Sex iii. 24 These may form the ‘queer’ society; these will frequent ‘gay’ bars.
19681966
absol. 1966 A. FIRTH Tall, Balding, Thirty-Five xv. 194 Would he ever dare, even if he wanted to, join the shrill freemasonry of the London gay? 1968 Globe & Mail Magazine (Toronto) 13 Jan. 6/1 A coffee shop frequented by the gay.
3. Bright or lively-looking, esp. in colour; brilliant, showy.
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13.. K. Alis. 3204 Gret pruyde and gay gere. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 260 In is gardyn gracios gaye. c1386 CHAUCER Prol. 111, Vpon his arm he baar a gay bracer. c1420 Sir Amadace (Camden) lvi, He come in als gay gere, Ryte as he an angelle were. 1463 Bury Wills (Camden) 41 My best gay cuppe of erthe. 1508 DUNBAR Tua mariit Wemen 365 He grathit me in a gay silk, et gudly arrayis. 1539 Will of Aslyn (Somerset Ho.), My gaye potte of glasse. 1573 G. HARVEY Letter-bk. (Camden) 6 His oun gai gallant gaskins do and wil descri it sufficiently. 1638 F. JUNIUS Paint. Ancients 285 Too much cheerefulnesse of gay and flourishing colours. 1650 BULWER Anthropomet. 260 The Brama's, who delight in such Gay-bables. 1717 LADY M. W. MONTAGU Let. to P'cess of Wales 1 Apr., The perpetual spring..makes everything gay and flourishing. 1797 MRS. RADCLIFFE Italian i, In every gay carriage that passed, he hoped to see the object of his constant thought. 1834 LYTTON Pompeii I. ii, They were now in that quarter which was filled with the gayest shops. 1860 PIESSE Lab. Chem. Wonders (1869) 131 The Collinsia verna, a gay, dark purple flower. 1870 E. PEACOCK Ralf Skirl. III. 233 Their costumes were gay with ribbons.
1842
absol. 1842 MIALL in Nonconf. II. 1 The civil magistrate, dressed in his gayest, approached the altar.
4. Finely or showily dressed. Now rare.
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c1381 CHAUCER Parl. Foules 234 Wommen y-nowe, of whiche somme ther were Faire of hem-self, and somme of hem were gay. 1387 TREVISA Higden (Rolls) IV. 241 Cleopatra made here gay. c1475 Rauf Coilear 484 He is the gayest in geir, that euer on ground glaid. 1509 BARCLAY Shyp of Folys (1570) 27 Women..sell their soules and bodyes to go gay. 1604 SHAKES. Oth. II. i. 151 She that..Neuer lackt Gold, and yet went neuer gay. 1801 STRUTT Sports & Past. I. i. 7 The king was desirous of knowing the name of this gay gentleman. 1812 J. WILSON Isle of Palms III. 600 Vaunt not, gay bird! thy gorgeous plume. 1859 TENNYSON Enid 284 The armourer..seeing one so gay in purple silks.
5. In immaterial sense: Brilliant, attractive, charming. Formerly also of reasonings, etc.: Specious, plausible.
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1529 MORE Dyaloge III. Wks. 243/2 Those reasons semed..gay and glorious at the first sight. 1548 HALL Chron., Hen. VI , 113 Thei with money, and gay promises, first corrupted a Miller. 1562 COOPER Answ. Apol. Priv. Masse 57b, You will seeme with your gay gloses to glorifie the bloud of Christe. 1634 MILTON Comus 790 Enjoy your dear wit, and gay rhetoric. 1638 CHILLINGW. Relig. Prot. I. vi. §5. 327, I would fain know what gay probabilities you could devise to disswade him from this Resolution. 1709 POPE Ess. Crit. 392 Let not each gay turn thy rapture move. 1779-81 JOHNSON L.P., Pope Wks. IV. 17 All the gay varieties of diction were ready at his hand.
6. a. Brilliantly good; excellent, fine. Obs.
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c1470 HENRY Wallace IX. 54 A gud gay wynd out off the rycht art com. 1533 BELLENDEN Livy II. vii. (1822) 127 Becaus vertew wes honorit in this wise, it gaif occasioun to wemen to do gay vassalege. 1540 R. HYRDE tr. Vives' Instr. Chr. Wom. (1592) Nv, But looke in the same booke, how goodly and gay is the prais of a good woman. 1550 LATIMER Last Serm. bef. Edw. VI (1562) 125 The concord of brethren, & agreeing of brethren is a gay thing. 1563 T. WILSON Logike 15b, People, which haue moche dispraised all temporall lawes..thinkyng it mete that all common weales, should onely haue the Gospell, and none other lawe at all. This maie seme to some, a gaie saiyng where as in deede, it is bothe foolishe, and wicked. 1573 TUSSER Husb. xxxv. (1878) 80 The labour is little, the profit is gay. 1577 HARRISON England Ded. (1877) I. p. cix, And thus with hope of good although no gaie successe. 1593 Tell-Troth's N.Y. Gift 38 It is a gay thing to come to dignity.
b. ironically. Obs.
15821581
1581 J. BELL Haddon's Answ. Osor. 11b, O gay payre of Byshops, which are so intangled in two examples onely, that [etc.]. 1582 G. MARTIN Discov. Corrupt. Script. vii. 120 If these later Rabbines be the Hebreues that Beza meaneth, and which these gay English translatours follow.
c. to have a gay mind: ‘to have a good mind’, to be very much inclined.
1557
1557 POLE in Strype Eccl. Mem. III. App. lxviii. 238 Yf you..had suche a gay mynde to restore the ruynes of the Chyrches.
7. Of quantity or amount. Pretty good, ‘tolerable’, ‘middling’. Sc. and north. Also GEY .
1796
188218691801
1796 W. MARSHALL Yorksh. Gloss. (ed. 2), Gay, considerable, middling, ordinary. 1801 SEWARD Lonsdale Dial. 54 (E.D.S. No. 76) Thau knaes it'tle be a gay dele, when it's o put tagidder. 1869 in Lonsdale Gloss. 1882 in Lanc. Gloss.
8. dial. In good health; well, convalescent.
1887187718761855
1855 ROBINSON Whitby Gloss. s.v., I am quite gay I thank you. 1876 in Mid-Yorksh. Gloss. 1877 N.W. Linc. Gloss. s.v., I heard thoo was badly, but thoo looks gay. 1887 Kent. Gloss. s.v., I don't feel very gay this morning.
9. Comb., chiefly parasynthetic, as gay-coloured , -flowered , -hearted , -humoured , -looking , -seeming adjs.; gay cat U.S. slang, a young or inexperienced tramp; a hobo who accepts occasional work; (see also sense 2c); gay deceiver , (a) a deceitful rake ( RAKE n.5); (b) pl. slang = FALSIES n. pl.; gay-feather U.S., the name of a plant (see quot.); Gay Gordons , (a) (see quot. 1925); (b) a Scottish dance popular in old-time and modern dancing; Gay Liberation (Front) orig. U.S., (a movement for) the liberation of homosexuals from social stigma and discrimination; also with lower-case initials, and abbrev. as Gay Lib (see LIB ). 1897 ‘J. FLYNT’ in Forum Feb. 741 Nothing arouses his [sc. the hobo's] scorn more than the dilettante, or ‘*gay-cat’, as he calls him. 1901 J. LONDON Let. 6 Dec. (1966) 126 Wyckoff is a gay cat. That was his rating when he wandered over the States. 1926 J. BLACK You can't Win vi. 74 He must have been an awful gay cat to get into the end of a carload of planed lumber. It's suicide. 1950 R. CHANDLER Let. 18 May (1966) 78 A gay-cat is a young punk who runs with an older tramp and there is always a connotation of homosexuality. Again, he could be a ‘look-out’ (outside man) or a ‘finder’ (finger or finger man), but that is a derived or occasional meaning and not exact.
1866 HOWELL Venet. Life xx. 342 Brilliant tapestries and other *gay-coloured cloths.
1803 G. COLMAN Love laughs at Locksmiths (1823) II. 25 Says he, ‘I am a handsome man, but I'm a *gay deceiver.’ 1809 MALKIN Gil Bl. VII. i. III. 10, I..posted myself on the high road, where the gay deceiver was sure to be intercepted. 1898 J. D. BRAYSHAW Slum Silhouettes 44 Ah! he's a gay decaver, is Billy, like all the min. Sure I wouldn't trust my ould gran'mother wid him. 1942 D. POWELL Time to be Born (1943) x. 232 Her pink sweater..clung properly to the seductive curves of her Gay Deceivers. 1962 Guardian 12 Mar. 4/7 False bosoms..were known as ‘gay deceivers’.
1880 Libr. Univ. Knowl. (N.Y.) VI. 493 *Gay-feather, the common name for the liatris scariosa and spicata.
1856 Farmer's Mag. Jan. 2 The *gay-flowered Senecio of the Canaries, known in gardens under the name of Cineraria. 1886 F. H. BURNETT Little Ld. Fauntleroy vi. (1887) 114 Everything was bright and cheerful with gay-flowered chintz.
1925 FRASER & GIBBONS Soldier & Sailor Words 185 *Gay Gordons, The, The Gordon Highlanders. In particular the 2nd Battalion, the 92nd Highlanders. 1947 J. R. GILLESPIE Old Tyme Dancing 32 (heading) The Gay Gordons. 1955 J. I. M. STEWART Guardians III. iv. 238 The music of the Samba and the Gay Gordons. 1966 Crescendo Dec. 27/1 A musical chore to be dealt with grudgingly like the Veleta or the Gay Gordons.
1853 WHITTIER Panorama (1856) 33 *Gay-hearted Health. 1947 W. DE LA MARE Coll. Stories for Children 44 Fairies, sly, small, gay-hearted.
1883 F. M. PEARD Contrad. x, It was a fresh, *gay-humoured day.
1970 Los Angeles Free Press 6 Feb. 17 (heading) *Gay Lib Front meets. Ibid. 20 Feb. 18/3 The Pope hopes that all Gay organizationsOld line, Gay lib, motorcycle, and socialwill join in the demonstration. 1986 Guardian Weekly 26 Jan. 12/4 The barssince gay lib, their fronts are of transparent glassdo not have invitingly dim-lit backrooms.
1969 Village Voice (N.Y.) 18 Sept. 2/1 (Advt.), The *Gay Liberation Front sends love to all gay men and women in the homosexual community. 1969 Berkley Barb (San Francisco) 10 Oct. 12/2 A magazine devoted to gay liberation is shortly to be published. 1985 Listener 7 Feb. 28/3 To depict life from the standpoint of a male prostitute..is to make a statement, if not to thump the tub for gay liberation.
1897 Daily News 21 Apr. 3/3 A *gay looking gig now put out from Palermo.
1595 SPENSER Hymn Heavenly Beauty 299 This vile world and these *gay-seeming things.

B. adv.
1. a. Brightly, showily = GAILY 1. b. In a gay mood, joyously = GAILY 2. Obs.
1415
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1633
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1415 HOCCLEVE To Sir J. Oldcastle 414 Ymages..causen men honure The seint after whom maad is that figure, And nat worsshippe it how gay it be wroght. 1500-20 DUNBAR Poems xliii. 28 Send in our steid, our ladeis grathit vp gay. 1577 B. GOOGE Heresbach's Husb. I. (1586) 7 Nor seelyng garnisht gaye with Imagrye, Nor ritche attyre we see. 1633 BP. HALL Occas. Medit. (1851) 112 Not acknowledging any friend, but..the nurse, that dresses us gay. 1744 S. FIELDING David Simple II. 161 He was dressed very gay. 1754 J. SHEBBEARE Matrimony (1766) II. 140 This paid her Debts, and put some considerable Sum of Money in her Pocket, with which she lived as gay as before.
2. Very. Also in weaker sense: Considerably, ‘pretty’. Frequent in dial. a gay few = a good few: see FEW 2d. Often written GEY .
1686
188418161807
1686 G. STUART Joco-ser. disc. Ep. Ded., Your Enemies (of which..yo've had a gay convenient number). 1807 SIR J. CARR Caled. Sketches xii. 212 It is a gaie (very) bonnie place to be out of the world. 1816 SCOTT Old Mort. vii, I ken I'm gay thick in the head. 1884 Gd. Words 229 There was a gay few folks waiting to cross.
3. Comb. Chiefly with pres. and pa. pples., as gay-beseen (see BESEE II), -careering , -chirping , -motleyed , -painted , -shifting , -smiling , -spent , -spotted , -throned . 1549 CHALONER Erasm. on Folly Oijb, What saie you to Courtiers? these minion *gaibeseen gentilmen. 1596 SPENSER F.Q. VI. v. 38 Deckt with greene boughes, and flowers gay beseene.
1824 T. FENBY 4 Temperam. I. 45 Thy *gay-careering soul.
1844 LD. HOUGHTON Palm Leaves 132 The sparrow *Gay-chirping by the door.
1742 COLLINS Ecl., Abra 17 *Gay-motley'd pinks and sweet jonquils she chose.
1777 WARTON Poems 36 The butterfly, *gay-painted soon, Explores awhile the tepid noon.
1728-46 THOMSON Spring 190 The downward sun Looks out effulgent from amid the flush Of broken clouds *gay-shifting to his beam.
1747 LD. LYTTELTON Monody Wks. (1774) 630 Ye lawns *gay-smiling with eternal green, Oft have you my Lucy seen!
1726-46 THOMSON Winter 1037 Those busy bustling days, Those *gay-spent festive nights.
1728-46 Spring 550 Nor broad carnations; nor *gay-spotted pinks.
1777 WARTON Poems 76 But since, *gay-thron'd in fiery chariot sheen, Summer has smote each daisy-dappled dale.

C. n. [the adj. used absol.]
1. A gay lady. Also, rarely of a man, a ‘gallant’. Obs.
13..
c1475c1420c1400
13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 970 Gawayn glyt on at gay, at graciously loked. c1400 Destr. Troy 2679 Parys was purpost with pouer to wende Into Grese for a gay, all on grete wise. c1420 Anturs of Arth. (Camden) xli, Then gloppunt that gaye, Hit was no ferly in faye. c1475 [see GAINAND ].
2. a. Anything that looks gay or showy; an ornament; esp. one that is used to amuse a child. Now dial.
1399
1519c1500
16551601
1880
1399 LANGL. Rich. Redeles II. 94 But how the gayes han y-gon, God wotte the sothe, Amonge mytfull men alle these many eris. c1500 Maid Emlyn 330 in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 94 This mannes name was Harry, He coude full clene cary, He loued prety gayes. 1519 W. HORMAN Vulg. 147 This baby hath many gayes hangyng at his necke. 1601 DENT Pathw. Heaven (1603) 41 As if a theefe should be proud of his halter, a begger of his cloutes, a childe of his gay. 1655 tr. De Parc's Francion II. 36 He..took pleasure in such Gayes, on purpose to be the more noted by wearing Cloathes out of the Common Mode. 1880 W. Cornw. Gloss. , Gays, children's toys: often, broken earthenware.
b. fig. A ‘toy’, childish amusement. Obs.
15911582
16941667
1582 BRETON Flourish Fancy , etc. (Grosart) 28/1 Though (perhaps) most commonly each youth Is giuen in deede, to follow euery gaye. 1591 SYLVESTER Du Bartas I. iii. 1040 O how I grieve, deer Earth, that (given to gays) Most of best Wits contemn thee now a-dayes. 1667 L. STUCLEY Gospel-Glass xxiii. (1670) 232 Forraigners breed their Children..to work those gaies with their hands. 1694 F. BRAGGE Disc. Parables III. 83 It highly concerns us..no longer childishly to doat upon empty gayes and trifles.
3. A picture in a book. Now dial. (chiefly used by children).
1698a16571646
18841839
1646 W. JENKYN Remora 30 'Tis the gay in the lesson, that makes the childe delight to learn. a1657 R. LOVEDAY Lett. (1663) 149 Finding him still eager to put a gay before his book, I design'd him this which is now a cutting. 1698 MILBOURNE Notes Dryden's Virg. 4 Who, in the inscription to his fine Gay in the Front of the Book, calls it very honestly Dryden's Virgil. 1839 C. CLARK J. Noakes & M. Styles 157 (E.D.S. No. 76) At a stall, soon Mary bote A hume-book full ov gays. 1884 BARING-GOULD Mehalah xxxii. 322 ‘The master of Rest Hall is turning over a new leaf to-day.’ ‘Maybebut I doubt it will be a blank one..It won't be a gay for him.’
4. slang (orig. U.S.). A homosexual, esp. a male homosexual. Cf. A 2c above.
1985198019771975197419721971
1971 E. MCGIRR No Better Fiend 69 Until the law was changed..there was a ring of roses around the gays, everybody extorting anything they could get. 1972 Pride of Lions (Columbia Univ.) Apr. 7/3 What about a program acceptable to gays, students and workers? 1974 K. MILLETT Flying (1975) I. 15, I talked at DOB in August, candid, one gay to another. 1975 Whig-Standard (Kingston, Ontario) 13 Aug. 43/5 The female gays in Ottawa are split into four main groups. 1977 Time 25 Apr. 52/3 Florida's former Miss America, Anita Bryant, took time out from her campaign against gays to oppose the ERA. 1980 E. WHITE in Michaels & Ricks State of Lang. 236 Many gays either were in therapy or felt they should be. 1985 Sunday Tel. 30 June 18/7 What about gays, one asks, and will there be facilities for them to relate significantly to each other?
ADDITIONS SERIES 1993

gay, a., adv., and n.
Add: [A.] [9.] gay plague colloq. (orig. U.S.), Aids, so called because when first identified it seemed to be spreading rapidly and uncontrollably amongst homosexual men.
198819861982
1982 New York 31 May 52 (heading) The *gay plague. 1986 Times 30 Oct. 19/1 The name for it [sc. AIDS] that entered American popular discourse was the ‘gay plague’ since..its victims were overwhelmingly homosexuals. 1988 M. BISHOP Unicorn Mountain xi. 100, I don't think he likes me. I think he must believe I'm highly infectiousthe Gay Plague's answer to Typhoid Mary.
ADDITIONS SERIES 1997

gay, a., adv., and n.
Add: [A.] [9.] gay-bashing slang (orig. and chiefly U.S.) = queer-bashing s.v. QUEER n.2; hence (as a back-formation) gay-bash v. intr. and trans.; also gay-basher = queer-basher s.v. QUEER n.2
199319841990198619921989
1989 Chicago Tribune 16 Feb. II. 1/3 A newspaper which is clearly denigrating not only to me, but clearly an attempt to create hostility to those males who may have feminine attributes and clearly an attempt to *gay bash. 1992 Nation (N.Y.) 15 June 825/2 Let Dannemeyer gay-bash and yell about the fetus. 1986 Los Angeles Times 10 Apr. I. 32/5 The San Francisco group is also reaching out to potential *gay bashers. 1990 Pink Paper 10 Feb. 3/6 A gay-basher was sentenced to 10 years in prison. 1984 Washington Post 18 May A21/2 It's hard to understand Nunzio's incredibly light sentence as anything other than a statement that *gay-bashing isn't really all that terrible. 1993 R. HUGHES Culture of Complaint i. 44 The same putrid stew of gay-bashing, thinly veiled racial prejudice, black Irish paranoia and authoritarian populism continued to bubble beneath the commonfellow surface.
DRAFT ADDITIONS JUNE 2003

gay, a., adv., and n.
gay gene colloq., a sequence or sequences of DNA that may predispose a person towards a homosexual orientation; (also in extended use, of animals) a gene that may contribute to the production of same-sex mating behaviour.
199519931986
2000
1986 Los Angeles Times 13 July (Mag. section) 21/1 An extreme sociobiologist would argue that there is a *gay gene. 1993 New Scientist 24 July 3/2 While the ‘discovery’ of the gay gene may generally have been welcomed by gay rights groups, it could (in a different political climate) also help to produce tests to see whether a fetus was carrying that gene, or a search for ways to alter its function. 1995 Daily Tel. (Electronic ed.) 6 June (heading) ‘Gay gene’ found in fruit flies. 2000 H. HAMMOND Lesbian Art in Amer. I. 99 Despite reports of a gay gene, most of us believe that to be queer is not simply a biological condition but a combination of biology, socially conditioned factors, and conscious choice, as is heterosexuality.
gay marriage, a relationship or bond between partners of the same sex which is likened to that between a married man and woman; (in later use chiefly) a formal marriage bond contracted between two people of the same sex, sometimes one conferring legal rights; (also) the action of entering into such a relationship; the condition of marriage between same-sex couples.
199019771971
2001
1971 W. D. OBERHOLTZER Is Gay Good? Introd. 41 Also, current research has not comprehensively tapped the world of the *gay marriage, nor has it determined whether the male homosexual goes through stages, e.g., promiscuous while young but nonpromiscuous when older or when married. 1977 Washington Post (Nexis) 23 May C1 Gays seized the phrase as a legalization of gay marriagesand Dixon's voters, many of them representing church groups, were outraged. 1990 Daily Tel. 19 Apr. 12/8 Gay marriages for 648 Danes... Under the law, homosexual couples enjoy almost all the rights of a heterosexual marriage, except adoption. 2001 Times 27 Feb. I. 1/5 One plan under consideration is to give away the first 100 ‘gay marriage’ licences free to publicise the scheme which brings London into line with San Francisco, Amsterdam and Paris.
gay panic , anxiety or panic as a reaction to (one's own or more usually another's) homosexuality, esp. that supposedly provoked in a heterosexual man by another man's homosexual advances, and sometimes claimed as the cause of violent conduct (freq. in N. Amer. legal contexts, esp. attrib. in gay panic defence ); cf. *homosexual panic s.v. HOMOSEXUAL a.
199919941992
2001
1992 Canad. Press Newswire (Nexis) 21 Feb., *Gay-Panic... After a year in custody, a Sudbury-area man was acquitted Friday of stabbing to death a man who had grabbed at his groin after they had drinks together. 1994 Washington Post 23 Dec. A3 A Washington attorney with Gay and Lesbian Americans, says he has heard the ‘gay panic defense’ before and brands it ‘nonsense’. 1999 Independent on Sunday 7 Nov. 5/2 In an ongoing murder trial, lawyers attempted to use ‘gay panic’ as a defence, stating that the defendant was provoked to violence by homosexual advances. 2001 N.Y. Times 24 June I. 15/5 They say he has a history of supporting anti-gay legislation, including a ‘gay panic’ measure that would have permitted someone accused of attacking a gay person to argue that the victim provoked the attack with ‘lewd and lascivious’ behavior.
gay pride, a sense of self-esteem engendered by a person's (public) acknowledgement of his or her homosexuality; solidarity among homosexual men and women, esp. as expressed publicly; (freq. attrib. and with capital initials) any of various public events intended to promote this feeling.
1993198719721970
2000
1970 Washington Post 29 June A20/2 It [sc. the march] was the climax of what its organizers called ‘*Gay Pride Week’. 1972 Pride of Lions (Columbia Univ.) Apr. 2/2 What is important is that you come out, have gay pride and leave the dance with a sense of Gay power. 1987 J. RULE Memory Board vi. 96 She toyed with the idea of joining one of the early gay pride marches. 1993 R. SHILTS Conduct Unbecoming I. ix. 95 Hence, gay pride became a movement watchword. ‘Coming out’, or acknowledging one's homosexualityeither privately to oneself or publiclybecame like a born-again experience to the new gay activists. 2000 M. ALBO Hornito 27 Last weekend was Gay Pride, and I spent it on Ecstasy, howling, walking around in the gold boot-cut jeans I got at the Salvation Army for three dollars.
slang (chiefly U.S.). Foolish, stupid, socially inappropriate or disapproved of; ‘lame’.
199919871978
2001
1978 G. KIMBERLY Skateboard 41 ‘It looks terrific on you.’ ‘It looks gay.’ 1987 Creem Close-up Presents No. 1. 6 Your so-stupid-they're-funny captions are gay. Get into some [real] humor. 1999 T. PARKER & M. STONE Cartman's Mom is Dirty Slut in South Park Scripts: Bk. 1 150 (stage direct.) As the camera zooms in on their faces, that gay ‘Near/Far’ song from ‘Titanic’ plays. 2001 Washington Post 8 May C 9 Today, they [sc. teenagers] often use gay as an adjective meaning ‘stupid’... A gay movie is a stupid movie or one that makes no sense or one with a lame plot or all of those things.