Word Study
queer
CIDE DICTIONARY
queer, a. [G. quer cross, oblique, athwart (cf. querkopf a queer fellow), OHG. twer, twerh, dwerah; akin to D. dvars, AS, thwart, bent, twisted, Icel. thwart, transverse, Goth. angry, and perh. to L. torqyere to twist, and E. through. Cf. Torture, Through, Thwart, a. ].
- 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. W. Irving. [1913 Webster]
- Mysterious; suspicious; questionable; as, a queer transaction. [1913 Webster]
- homosexual. [PJC]
queer, n.
- Counterfeit money. [1913 Webster]
- a homosexual. [PJC]
- To puzzle. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
- To ridicule; to banter; to rally. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
- To spoil the effect or success of, as by ridicule; to throw a wet blanket on; to spoil. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
queer, adj., n., & v.
--adj.
1 strange; odd; eccentric.
2 shady; suspect; of questionable character.
3 a slightly ill; giddy; faint. b Brit. sl. drunk.
4 derog. sl. (esp. of a man) homosexual.
--n. derog. sl. a homosexual.
--v.tr. sl. spoil; put out of order.
--adj.
1 strange; odd; eccentric.
2 shady; suspect; of questionable character.
3 a slightly ill; giddy; faint. b Brit. sl. drunk.
4 derog. sl. (esp. of a man) homosexual.
--n. derog. sl. a homosexual.
--v.tr. sl. spoil; put out of order.
Idiom
in Queer Street sl. in a difficulty, in debt or trouble or disrepute. queer a person's pitch spoil a person's chances, esp. secretly or maliciously.
Derivative
queerish adj. queerly adv. queerness n.
Etymology
perh. f. G quer oblique (as THWART)
THESAURUS
queer
AC-DC, abnormal, absurd, affected, amphierotic, anomalous, apocryphal, artificial, assumed, atypical, auntie, autoerotic, bad check, bad money, ball up, base coin, bastard, batty, bereft of reason, bi-guy, bisexed, bisexual, bizarre, bogus, bogus money, bollix, bollix up, botch, brainsick, brummagem, bugger, bugger up, bull dyke, bungle, butch, catamite, chicken, colorable, colored, cook, counterfeit, counterfeit money, counterfeited, crab, crackbrained, cracked, cramp, crank, crankish, cranky, crazed, crazy, crimp, cripple, crotchety, curious, daft, de-energize, debilitate, deluded, demented, deprived of reason, deranged, destroy, deviant, deviative, different, disable, disenable, disoriented, distorted, distraught, divergent, dizzy, dotty, doubtful, drain, dressed up, droll, dubious, dummy, dyke, eccentric, effeminate, embellished, embroidered, enfeeble, erratic, ersatz, exceptional, exotic, extraordinary, factitious, fag, faggot, faint, fairy, fake, faked, false money, falsified, feigned, femme, fey, fictitious, fictive, fishy, flaky, flighty, flit, forgery, foul up, freaked out, freakish, freaky, fricatrice, fruit, funny, garbled, gay, giddy, green goods, gum, gum up, gunsel, hallucinated, hamstring, hash up, hipped, homo, homoerotic, homophile, homosexual, homosexualist, hors de combat, idiocratic, idiosyncratic, illegitimate, imitation, inactivate, incapacitate, incongruous, insane, invert, inverted, irrational, irregular, junky, kibosh, kinky, kite, kooky, lame, laughable, lesbian, light-headed, loco, loony, louse up, ludicrous, lunatic, mad, maddened, maggoty, maim, make-believe, man-made, manic, mannish, mar, mazed, mental, mentally deficient, meshuggah, mess up, mock, moon-struck, muck up, muddle, muff, mysterious, nance, non compos, non compos mentis, not all there, not right, nuts, nutty, odd, oddball, of unsound mind, off, off the wall, offbeat, out, outlandish, outre, pansy, passing strange, pathic, peculiar, perverted, phony, pinchbeck, play hell with, play hob with, poorly, potty, pretended, pseudo, psycho, punk, put, put-on, puzzling, quaint, qualmish, qualmy, quasi, queasy, queen, queer the works, questionable, quirky, reasonless, remarkable, ridiculous, rubber check, ruin, sabotage, sapphic, sapphist, screw up, screwball, screwy, self-styled, senseless, shady, sham, shoddy, sick, simulated, singular, sink, snafu, snarl up, so-called, soi-disant, spike, spoil, spurious, stark-mad, stark-staring mad, strange, supposititious, suspect, suspicious, synthetic, tetched, tin, tinsel, titivated, touched, transvestite, tribade, tribadistic, twisted, unauthentic, unbalanced, uncanny, uncommon, unconventional, unearthly, uneasy, unexampled, unfit, ungenuine, unhinged, unnatural, unorthodox, unparalleled, unreal, unsane, unsettled, unsound, unusual, unwell, vertiginous, wacky, wandering, warped, weaken, weird, whimsical, wing, witless, wondrous strange, wreckROGET THESAURUS
queer
Unconformity
N unconformity, nonconformity, unconformity, disconformity, unconventionality, informality, abnormity, abnormality, anomaly, anomalousness, exception, peculiarity, infraction of law, breach, of law, violation of law, violation of custom, violation of usage, infringement of law, infringement of custom, infringement of usage, teratism, eccentricity, bizarrerie, oddity, je ne sais quoi, monster, monstrosity, rarity, freak, freak of Nature, weirdo, mutant, rouser, snorter, individuality, idiosyncrasy, originality, mannerism, aberration, irregularity, variety, singularity, exemption, salvo, nonconformist, nondescript, character, original, nonesuch, nonsuch, monster, prodigy, wonder, miracle, curiosity, flying fish, black sheep, black swan, lusus naturae, rara avis, queer fish, mongrel, random breed, half-caste, half-blood, half-breed, metis, crossbreed, hybrid, mule, hinny, mulatto, tertium quid, hermaphrodite, phoenix, chimera, hydra, sphinx, minotaur, griffin, griffon, centaur, saggittary, kraken, cockatrice, wyvern, roc, dragon, sea serpent, mermaid, merman, merfolk, unicorn, Cyclops, men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders, teratology, fish out of water, neither one thing nor another, neither fish nor fowl, neither fish flesh nor fowl nor good red herring, one in a million, one in a way, one in a thousand, outcast, outlaw, off the beaten track, oasis, uncomformable, exceptional, abnormal, abnormous, anomalous, anomalistic, out of order, out of place, out of keeping, out of tune, out of one's element, irregular, arbitrary, teratogenic, lawless, informal, aberrant, stray, wandering, wanton, peculiar, exclusive, unnatural, eccentric, egregious, out of the beaten track, off the beaten track, out of the common, out of the common run, beyond the pale of, out of the pale of, misplaced, funny, unusual, unaccustomed, uncustomary, unwonted, uncommon, rare, curious, odd, extraordinary, out of the ordinary, strange, monstrous, wonderful, unexpected, unaccountable, outre, out of the way, remarkable, noteworthy, queer, quaint, nondescript, none such, sui generis, unfashionable, fantastic, grotesque, bizarre, outlandish, exotic, tombe des nues, preternatural, denaturalized, heterogeneous, heteroclite, amorphous, mongrel, amphibious, epicene, half blood, hybrid, androgynous, androgynal, asymmetric, adelomorphous, bisexual, hermaphrodite, monoclinous, qualified, singular, unique, one-of-a-kind, newfangled, novel, non-classical, original, unconventional, unheard of, unfamiliar, undescribed, unprecedented, unparalleled, unexampled, unconformably, except, unless, save barring, beside, without, save and except, let alone, however, yet, but, once in a blue moon, once in a million years, Int, what on earth!, what in the world!, What the devil!, Holy cow!, Can you top that?, Sacre bleu, never was seen the like, never was heard the like, never was known the like, I could hardly believe it, I saw it, but I didn't believe it.Ridiculousness
N ridiculousness, comicality, oddity, extravagance, drollery, farce, comedy, burlesque, buffoonery, frippery, doggerel verses, absurdity, bombast, anticlimax, bathos, eccentricity, monstrosity, laughingstock, ridiculous, ludicrous, comical, droll, funny, laughable, pour rire, grotesque, farcical, odd, whimsical, whimsical as a dancing bear, fanciful, fantastic, queer, rum, quizzical, quaint, bizarre, screaming, eccentric, strange, outlandish, out of the way, baroque, weird, awkward, extravagant, outre, monstrous, preposterous, bombastic, inflated, stilted, burlesque, mock heroic, drollish, seriocomic, tragicomic, gimcrack, contemptible, doggerel, ironical, risible, risum teneatis amici, rideret Heraclitus, du sublime au ridicule il n'y a qu'un pas.For further exploring for "queer" in Webster Dictionary Online
