Word.ws English Dictionary

gay science

gay science noun: the art of poetry.

Noun

the gay science

  1. (dated) The art of poetry.
    • For the Normans, as well as the reſt, were Dabblers in The Gay Science; and we learn from Hiſtory that they ſung the Exploits of Roland juſt before they began that memorable Battle wherein William the Baſtard got the Crown of England.1720, Pierre Daniel Huet, “Monsieur Huet's Letter upon the Original of Romances”, in A Select Collection of Novels, London: John Watts, page xlii
    • The Norman had here laid aside some of his northern roughness, and become and apt disciple of the gay science in which Frederick had won a foremost place.1874, George William Cox, chapter XI, in The Crusades, New York: Scribner, Armstrong & Co., page 192

Origin of gay science

Calque of Provençal gai saber.

Questions about gay science

What does gay science mean?
Gay science means the art of poetry.
What part of speech is gay science?
Gay science is a noun.

Words near gay science in the dictionary

  1. Gay Pride Month
  2. gay quarter
  3. gay quarters
  4. gay race communism
  5. gay rights
  6. gay science
  7. gay tyke boy
  8. gay tyke boys
  9. gay up
  10. gay vague
  11. gay village

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gay science (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “gay science.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gay_science. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.