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noun Slang.
1.
a criminal armed with a gun.
2.
a catamite.
Origin:
1910–15; probably < Yiddish genzel gosling < Middle High German gensel (diminutive of gans goose); sense of def. 1, by influence of gun1
1910–15; probably < Yiddish genzel gosling < Middle High German gensel (diminutive of gans goose); sense of def. 1, by influence of gun1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Gunsel
is always a great word to know.
So is snooker. Does it mean:
| to deceive, cheat, or dupe |
| excessive absorption in self-analysis or focus on a single issue |
Collins
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
gunsel
1914, Amer. Eng., from hobo slang, "a catamite;" specifically "a young male kept as a sexual companion, esp. by an older tramp," from Yiddish genzel, from Ger. Gänslein "gosling, young goose." The secondary, non-sexual meaning "young hoodlum" seems to be entirely traceable to Dashiell Hammett, who
EXPANDsnuck it into "The Maltese Falcon" (1939) while warring with his editor over the book's racy language.
COLLAPSE
" '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.' "The context implies some connection with gun and a sense of "gunman," and evidently the editor bought it. The word was retained in the script of the 1941 movie made from the book, so evidently the Motion Picture Production Code censors didn't know it either.
"The relationship between Kasper Gutman (Sidney Greenstreet) and his young hit-man companion, Wilmer Cook (Elisha Cook, Jr.), is made fairly clear in the movie, but the overt mention of sexual perversion would have been deleted if the censors hadn't made the same mistaken assumption as Hammett's editor." [Hugh Rawson, "Wicked Words," 1989, p.184]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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