Queer
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
queer¹
- /kwɪə/ UK
- /kwɪɹ/ US
- /kwiə̯/ New Zealand
- /kwiɹ/ Scotland
- /kwɛː/
Rhymes with -ɪə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
Attested since about 1510, at first in Scots. Usually taken to be from Middle Low German (Brunswick dialect) queer (“oblique, off-centre”) 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.
adjective queerer · queerest · qwer
- Homosexual. “Such a Momma’s boy.” The old men had started up again—or perhaps they had never stopped. “No matter who he schtupped. Even Marilyn. I wouldn’t be surprised he was queer.” / “Strange, yes. Weird, yes. Queer, I don’t think.”
- Non-heterosexual or non-cisgender: homosexual, bisexual, asexual, transgender, etc.
- Pertaining to sexual or gender behaviour or identity which does not conform to conventional heterosexual or cisgender norms, assumptions etc. the queer community
- Strange, odd, or different; whimsical. An old long-faced, long-bodied servant, gave a queer look
- Slightly unwell. I felt queer after eating those shrimp.
- Drunk.
noun queers · qwer
- A person who is or appears homosexual, or who has homosexual qualities. Now that the first flush of this catastrophe and grief is passed, I write to tell you that it is a judgement on the whole lot of you. Montgomerys, The Snob Queers like [the Earl of] Rosebery & certainly Christian hypocrite [William Ewart] Gladstone [...]
- A person of any non-heterosexual sexuality or sexual identity.
- A person of any genderqueer identity. Gentrification often starts with the artists, revolutionaries, freaks, transfolks, and queers (what I would call my people) moving into poor neighborhoods inhabited by people of color.
- Counterfeit money. You're shoving the queer.
verb queers · queering · queered · qwer
- To render an endeavor or agreement ineffective or null. I was a lot more apt to queer it than help it.
- To 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 of course it got newsed about […]"
- To ridicule; to banter; to rally.
- To 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."
- 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 Christian.
- To make a work more appealing or attractive to LGBT people, such as by not having strict genders for playable characters.
adverb more queer · most queer · qwer
- Queerly.
- Very, extremely. Twas a queer bachram in the pub that night!
Queer²
Where it comes from
From queer.
adjective
- Of or relating to the culture surrounding queer people.
