queer Hear it!

queer Definition

queer (kwir)

adjective

  1. differing from what is usual or ordinary; odd; singular; strange
  2. slightly ill; qualmish or giddy
  3. Informal doubtful; suspicious
  4. Informal having mental quirks; eccentric
  5. Slang counterfeit; not genuine
  6. ☆ Slang homosexual: in general usage, still chiefly a slang term of contempt or derision, but lately used as by some academics and homosexual activists as a descriptive term without negative connotations

Etymology: N Eng & Scot dial: via beggars' cant < ? Ger quer, crosswise, in the orig. sense (MHG twer), crooked

transitive verb

  1. to spoil the smooth operation or success of
  2. to put (oneself) into an unfavorable position

noun

  1. counterfeit money
  2. a strange or eccentric person
  3. ☆ Slang a homosexual: see note at adj. 6

queer Related Forms
queer′·ish adjective queer′ly adverb queer′·ness noun
queer Idioms

be queer for

☆

Slang to have a strong liking for; be obsessed with

queer Synonyms

queer

modif.

  1. Odd

    peculiar, singular, strange, eccentric; see unusual 2.

  2. Slightly ill

    queasy, qualmish, faint; see dizzy 1, sick.

  3. *Suspicious

    strange, questionable, doubtful, irregular; see questionable 2, suspicious 2. See syn. study at strange.

queer Usage Examples

Object

    Converse of object

    • feel: A fortnight later, you feel queer, Somehow lose your immune veneer.
    • kill: It signals to young people that going out and killing a queer is okay.
    • hate: Queer history should be centered upon queer people, not upon people who hate queers.

    Preposition: as

    • folk: Well, there's nowt so queer as folk, is there?

    Adjective modifier

    • little: He is a little queer in his ideas an enthusiast in some branches of science.

    Modifies a noun

    • theorist: Queer theorists ' attack on identity politics seems to me to be very misguided.
    • theory: ME: How has the discourse of queer theory impacted your working process?
    • sensation: I have a queer sensation; the dead entries begin to be alive.
    • folk: I must say that the Conservative Party have attracted some very queer folk.
    • creature: He certainly was a queer creature, yet Trot decided he was not at all frightful.

    Modifying Another Word

    • rather: A thing might have these two opposite vices; but it must be a rather queer thing if it did.
    • very: Very queer - for I try to be careful.
    • so: I just couldn't eat the school dinners at all, my stomach was feeling so queer.
    • only: As the only queer literary and arts journal in the UK, we want to keep growing and improving.
    • not: It is quite mistaken to suggest that there can be no queer ethnic community simply because our parents are not queer.

    Noun used with modifier

    • something: That there was something queer about the marriage, however, seemed certain.
    • bit: This is a bit queer at first but you soon get used to it.

    Possessives

    • word: I don't much care for his use of the word ' queer ' either.
queer Quotes

All the world is queer save thee and me, and even thou art a little queer.

—Owen, Robert

  A man's a fool to look at things too near: They look back, and begin to cut up queer.

—Moody,WilliamVaughn

America I'm putting my queer shoulder to the wheel.

—Ginsberg, Allen

   'Scotland! a queer country that, your honour!' 'So it is,' said I; 'a queerer country I never saw in all my life.' 'And a queer set of people, your honour.' 'So they are,'said I; 'a queerer set of people than the Scotch you would scarcely see in a summer's day.'

—Borrow, George Henry

Technology†is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other.

—Snow, C(harles) P(ercy), 1st Baron

No government has the right to tell its citizens when or whom to love. The only queer people are those who don't love anybody.

—Brown, Rita Mae

We're here, We're queer. 1970 Get used to it.

—Anonymous