gay Hear it!

gay Definition

gay ()

adjective

  1. joyous and lively; merry; happy; lighthearted
  2. bright; brilliant gay colors
  3. given to social life and pleasures a gay life
  4. wanton; licentious a gay dog
    1. homosexual: now often used specif. of male homosexuals
    2. of, for, or relating to homosexuals, often, specif., male homosexuals gay liberation

Etymology: ME gai < OFr < ? Frank *gahi, swift, impetuous, akin to Ger jäh

noun

a homosexual; esp., a homosexual man

gay Related Forms
gay·ness noun
Gay Definition

Gay ()

Gay, John 1685-1732; Eng. poet & playwright

gay Synonyms

gay

modif.

  1. Happy

    lighthearted, merry, vivacious; see happy 1, lively 2, sprightly.

  2. Bright

    brilliant, intense, vivid, showy; see bright 1, 2.

  3. Homosexual

    homophile, homoerotic, lesbian; see homosexual. See syn. study at lively.

gay Usage Examples

Used with adjective complement

    Adjective modifier

      Modifies a noun

        Modifying Another Word

          Preposition: in

    gay Quotes

    Belinda smiled, and all the world was gay.

    —Pope, Alexander

    I assume everyone isgay, unless told otherwise.

    —Fierstein, Harvey Forbes

    I wanted to be black. I always wanted to be black† Being black iswarm and gay, being white is cold and sad.

    —Rhys,Jean pseudonym of  Ellen Gwendolen Rees Williams

    When you come to the end of a perfect day, And you sit alone with your thought, While the chimes ring out with a carol gay For the joy that the day has brought, Do you think what the end of a perfect day Can mean to a tired heart, When the sun goes down with a flaming ray, And the dear friends have to part?

    —Bond, CarrieJacobs

    Here gay Description Aegypt glads with showers; Or gives to Zembla fruits, to Barca flowers; Glitt'ring with ice here hoary hills are seen, There painted vallies of eternal green.

    —Pope, Alexander

       For wheresoe'er I turn my ravished eyes, Gay gilded scenes and shining prospects rise, Poetic fields encompass me around, And still I seem to tread on classic ground.

    —Addison,Joseph

    Never to have lived is best, ancient writers say; Never to have drawn the breath of life, never to have looked into the eye of day; The second best's a gay goodnight and quickly turn away.

    —Yeats,W(illiam) B(utler)

    Lo, thro' her works gay nature grieves How brief she is and frail, As ever o'er the falling leaves Autumnal winds prevail. Yet still the philosophic mind Consolatory food can find, And hope her anchorage maintain: We never are deserted quite; 'Tis by succession of delight That love supports his reign.

    —Smart, Christopher

    It made Gay Rich and Rich Gay.

    —Anonymous

      Yet is that glass so gay, that it can blind The wisest sight, to think gold that is brass.

    —Spenser, Edmund

    Mad about the boy, It's pretty funny but I'm mad about the boy. He has a gayappeal That makes me feel There may be something sad about the boy.

    —Coward, Sir Noe«  l Peirce

    Coldly profane and impiously gay.

    —Crabbe, George

    It will be a gay world. There will be lights everywhere except in the minds of men, and the fall of the last civilization will not be heard above the din.

    —Read, Sir Herbert Edward

    He poured, to lord and lady gay, The unpremeditated lay.

    —Scott, Sir Walter

    The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company: I gazedöand gazedöbut little thought What wealth the show to me had brought.

    —Wordsworth,William

    WhenTime shall turn those amber locks to grey, My verse again shall gild and make them gay.

    —Drayton, Michael

    Browse dictionary entries near gay

    1. gawp
    2. gawky
    3. gawk
    4. Gawain
    5. GAW
    6. gavotte
    7. gavial
    8. gavelkind
    9. gavel-to-gavel
    10. gavel
    1. Gay-Lussac
    2. Gay-Lussac's law
    3. Gaya
    4. gayety
    5. Gayle
    6. gayly
    7. gaywings
    8. gaz
    9. Gaza
    10. gazabo