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queer - 6 dictionary results

queer

  [kweer] adjective, -er, -est, verb, noun
Use queer in a Sentence
–adjective
1. strange or odd from a conventional viewpoint; unusually different; singular: a queer notion of justice.
2. of a questionable nature or character; suspicious; shady: Something queer about the language of the prospectus kept investors away.
3. not feeling physically right or well; giddy, faint, or qualmish: to feel queer.
4. mentally unbalanced or deranged.
5. Slang: Disparaging and Offensive.
a. homosexual.
b. effeminate; unmanly.
6. Slang. bad, worthless, or counterfeit.
–verb (used with object)
7. to spoil; ruin.
8. to put (a person) in a hopeless or disadvantageous situation as to success, favor, etc.
9. to jeopardize.
–noun
10. Slang: Disparaging and Offensive. a homosexual, esp. a male homosexual.
11. Slang. counterfeit money.
—Idiom
12. queer the pitch, British Informal. to spoil the chances of success.
Origin:
1500–10; perh. < G quer oblique, cross, adverse

Related forms:
queerly, adverb
queerness, noun

Synonyms:
1. unconventional, curious, freakish, eccentric, weird. See strange.

Antonyms:
1. ordinary.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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queer   (kwîr)   
adj.   queer·er, queer·est
  1. Deviating from the expected or normal; strange: a queer situation.
  2. Odd or unconventional, as in behavior; eccentric. See Synonyms at strange.
  3. Of a questionable nature or character; suspicious.
  4. Slang Fake; counterfeit.
  5. Feeling slightly ill; queasy.
  6. Offensive Slang Homosexual.
  7. Usage Problem Of or relating to lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, or transgendered people.
n.  
  1. Offensive Slang Used as a disparaging term for a homosexual person.
  2. Usage Problem A lesbian, gay male, bisexual, or transgendered person.
tr.v.   queered, queer·ing, queers Slang
  1. To ruin or thwart: "might try to queer the Games with anything from troop movements . . . to a bomb attack" (Newsweek).
  2. To put (someone) in a bad position.

[Perhaps from Low German, oblique, off-center, from Middle Low German dwer; see terkw- in Indo-European roots.]
queer'ish adj., queer'ly adv., queer'ness n.
Usage Note: A reclaimed word is a word that was formerly used solely as a slur but that has been semantically overturned by members of the maligned group, who use it as a term of defiant pride. Queer is an example of a word undergoing this process. For decades queer was used solely as a derogatory adjective for gays and lesbians, but in the 1980s the term began to be used by gay and lesbian activists as a term of self-identification. Eventually, it came to be used as an umbrella term that included gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered people. Nevertheless, a sizable percentage of people to whom this term might apply still hold queer to be a hateful insult, and its use by heterosexuals is often considered offensive. Similarly, other reclaimed words are usually offensive to the in-group when used by outsiders, so extreme caution must be taken concerning their use when one is not a member of the group.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Queer

Queer\, v. t. [From Queer, a.]

1. To puzzle. [Prov. Eng. or Slang]

2. To ridicule; to banter; to rally. [Slang]

3. To spoil the effect or success of, as by ridicule; to throw a wet blanket on; to spoil. [Slang]

Queer

Queer\, a. [Compar. Queerer; superl. Queerest.] [G. quer cross, oblique, athwart (cf. querkopf a queer fellow), OHG. twer, twerh, dwerah; akin to D. dvars, AS, [thorn]weorh thwart, bent, twisted, Icel. [thorn]verr thwart, transverse, Goth. [thorn]wa[`i]rhs angry, and perh. to L. torqyere to twist, and E. through. Cf. Torture, Through, Thwart, a.]

1. At variance with what is usual or normal; differing in some odd way from what is ordinary; odd; singular; strange; whimsical; as, a queer story or act. " A queer look." --W. Irving.

2. Mysterious; suspicious; questionable; as, a queer transaction. [Colloq.]

Queer

Queer\, n. Counterfeit money. [Slang]

To shove the queer, to put counterfeit money in circulation. [Slang]
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : queer
Spanish: extraño; excéntrico; raro,
German: sonderbar,
Japanese: 妙な
More Translations »

queer 
1508, "strange, peculiar, eccentric," from Scottish, perhaps from Low Ger. (Brunswick dialect) queer "oblique, off-center," related to Ger. quer "oblique, perverse, odd," from O.H.G. twerh "oblique," from PIE base *twerk- "to turn, twist, wind" (related to thwart). The verb "to spoil, ruin" is first recorded 1812. Sense of "homosexual" first recorded 1922; the noun in this sense is 1935, from the adj.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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