gays

Noun (1)

gay (plural gays)

1. (in plural) A homosexual, especially a male homosexual.
   • [headline] N.Y. Gays: Will the Spark Die?1969, “N.Y. Gays: Will the Spark Die?”, in The Advocate
2. (derogatory, informal, ironic, often) Gayness: the quality of being gay.
   • Anti-gay persecution holds that you can pray the gay out of a person, or scare it out of them, or cajole it out of them.
3. (dialectal, obsolete) Something which is bright or colorful, such as a picture or a flower.
   • At a stall soon Mary bote / A hume-book full ov gays.1839, Charles Clark, John Noakes and Mary Styles, st. 157
4. (obsolete) An ornament, a knick-knack.
   • Look upon precepts in emblems, as they do to upon gays and pictures.1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC

Noun (2)

gay (plural gays)

1. The letter —, which stands for the sound /ɡ/, in Pitman shorthand.

See all 32 meanings of gay