/kwɪə/, /kwɪɹ/, /kwəɹ/
OriginAttested since about 1510, at first in Scots. Usually taken to be from Middle Low German (Brunswick dialect) queer (“oblique, off-center”) or the related German quer (“diagonal”), from Old Saxon thwerh, from Proto-West Germanic *þwerh, from Proto-Germanic *þwerhaz, from Proto-Indo-European *terkʷ- (“to turn, twist, wind”); compare Latin torqueō, and see more at thwart. The OED argues against this due to the semantic differences and the date at which the word appears in Scots.
Began to be used to describe gay people in the late 1800s, see usage notes for more.
- broadlyPertaining to sexual or gender behaviour or identity which does not conform to conventional heterosexual or cisgender norms, assumptions etc.
“the queer community”
“If gender is no longer to be understood as consolidated through normative sexuality, then is there a crisis of gender that is specific to queer contexts?”
“Historically, this has meant that queer sexuality—defined here not literally or only as same-gender desire but as "the sex of others," meaning any sexuality outside the bounds of the reproductive, whi”
- datedStrange, odd, or different; whimsical.
“An old long-faced, long-bodied servant, gave a queer look”
““I wish I hadn’t cried so much!” said Alice, as she swam about, trying to find her way out. “I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by being drowned in my own tears! That will be a queer thing, to”
“One thing has struck me as a bit queer. During my two terms of office the whole Democratic press, and the morbidly honest and 'reformatory' portion of the Republican press, thought it horrible to keep”
- British, dated, informalSlightly unwell.
“I felt queer after eating those shrimp.”
“Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. … When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your ”
“"Well, I'm—I'm jiggered," said Peter, and his voice also sounded queer.”
- British, dated, slangDrunk.
- US, not-comparableOf or relating to the culture surrounding queer people.
- archaic, informal, with-definite-articleCounterfeit money.
“You're shoving the queer.”
- dated, transitiveTo render an endeavor or agreement ineffective or null.
“I was a lot more apt to queer it than help it.”
- UK, dated, dialectalTo puzzle.
“"But lor-a-mussy, Jacob, how could a woman get away from here with all her boxes in the middle of the night?"
"That's what queered me," and Spink slowly shook his head, "and queered a good many; for o”
“"Where do you come from?" Stanley queered.”
- dated, slangTo ridicule; to banter; to rally.
- dated, slangTo spoil the effect or success of, as by ridicule; to throw a wet blanket on; to spoil.
“"Food is what queered the party. We ordered a big supper to be sent up to the room about two o'clock. Alec didn't give the waiter a tip, so I guess the little bastard snitched."”
“Well, then I got buried—shell dropped, and the dug-out caved in—and that queered me. They sent me home.”
“You'll queer yourself on Broadway—you'll never get another job.”
- To reevaluate or reinterpret (a work) with an eye to sexual orientation and/or to gender, as by applying queer theory.
“If I go, for instance, to the history of the church in Latin America, and decide to queer the history of the Jesuitic Missions, I may find that, in many ways, the missions were more sexual than Christ”
“Jonathan Goldberg further explores the implications of queering history in his essay in the same volume.”
“We might say that there has been a ‘queering’ of urban studies insofar as the metropolitan lives, subcultures and social movements of gays and lesbians are now seen as valid objects of study.”
- neologism, slangTo make a work more appealing or attractive to LGBT people, such as by not having strict genders for playable characters.
- not-comparable, usuallyQueerly.
- Ireland, not-comparable, usuallyVery, extremely.
“Twas a queer bachram in the pub that night!”
“Ah, but she was the queer old skeowsha anyhow, Anna Livia, trinkettoes!””
“Page 6: Tony: Yeah, he's a queer smily fecker, ain't he?
Page 14: Tony: I'll tell yeh one thing Conway he's trainin' queer hard for it!”
Formsqueerer(comparative) · queerest(superlative) · qwer(alternative) · queers(plural) · queers(present, singular, third-person) · queering(participle, present) · queered(participle, past) · queered(past) · more queer(comparative) · most queer(superlative)