Word.ws English Dictionary

queer as a clockwork orange

queer as a clockwork orange adjective: strange, odd, unusual.

Adjective

queer as a clockwork orange

  1. (simile) Strange, odd, unusual.
  2. (simile) Unusually camp, unusually homosexual.
    • He sauntered the flunkied restaurant, queer / As a clockwork orange and not scared. / God, I was grateful for the nights we shared.1997, Tony Harrison, quoted in Sandie Byrne's introduction to Tony Harrison: Loiner (ed Sandie Byrne, 1997)

Synonyms of queer as a clockwork orange

Origin of queer as a clockwork orange

Cockney phrase from East London indicating something bizarre internally, but appearing natural and normal on the surface. Author Anthony Burgess appropriated the phrase for the title of his novella A Clockwork Orange.

Questions about queer as a clockwork orange

What does queer as a clockwork orange mean?
Queer as a clockwork orange means strange, odd, unusual.
What part of speech is queer as a clockwork orange?
Queer as a clockwork orange is an adjective.

Words near queer as a clockwork orange in the dictionary

  1. queequehatches
  2. queer
  3. queer anarchism
  4. queer anarchist
  5. queer anarchists
  6. queer as a clockwork orange
  7. queer as a coot
  8. queer as a nine bob note
  9. queer as a three dollar bill
  10. queer as a three-dollar bill
  11. queer as Dick's hatband

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: queer as a clockwork orange (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-queer as a clockwork orange.ogg.

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