gunsel
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Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
gunsel¹
- /ˈɡʌnsəl/
Where it comes from
From Yiddish גענדזל (gendzl, “gosling”), from Middle High German gensel, diminutive of gans (“goose”).
noun gunsels
- Synonym of catamite: a young man kept by an elder as a (usually passive) homosexual partner. The boy’s eyes […] ran over Spade’s body from shoulders to knees […] “Another thing,” Spade repeated, glaring at the boy: “Keep that gunsel away from me while you’re making up your mind. I’ll kill him […] ”
- Synonym of bottom: a passive partner in a male homosexual relationship.
- Synonym of bitch: a man forced or coerced into a homosexual relationship.
Similar: male homosexual
gunsel²
- /ˈɡʌnsəl/
Where it comes from
By misunderstanding of the 1929 Maltese Falcon quotation above (1.1) (which survived in a popular 1941 film adaptation). The novel was originally serialized in a magazine, Black Mask, whose editor refused to allow vulgarities. Hammett used the word gunsel knowing that the editor would likely misunderstand it as relating to gun, and therefore allow it.
noun gunsels
- A gun-carrying hoodlum or other criminal. There's somebody comin. I think it's that gunsel.
