gayola

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gayola

Rhymes with -əʊlə

Where it comes from

From gay + -ola.

noun

historical, uncountable The practice of American police departments extorting bribes from gay bars, especially in the 1950s and 60s, in return for not raiding them; such a bribe. Every one of the bars that testified against the police department during the gayola inquiry was shut down.

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MLA

"gayola." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/gayola. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

gayola. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/gayola

Chicago

"gayola." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/gayola.

BibTeX

@misc{gayola_2026,
  title = {gayola},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/gayola},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}