■ adjective
1》 strange; odd.
↘ Brit. informal, dated slightly ill.
2》 informal, derogatory (of a man) homosexual.
■ noun informal, derogatory a homosexual man.
■ verb informal spoil or ruin.
Phrases
in Queer Street Brit. informal, dated in difficulty or debt.
~ someone's pitch Brit. spoil someone's plans or chances of doing something.
Derivatives
~ish adjective
~ly adverb
~ness noun
Origin
C16: considered to be from Ger. quer 'oblique, perverse', but the origin is doubtful.
Usage
The word ~ was first used to mean ‘homosexual’ in the early 20th century: it was originally, and usually still is, a deliberately derogatory term when used by heterosexual people. In recent years, however, gay people have taken the word ~ and deliberately used it in place of gay or homosexual , in an attempt, by using the word positively, to deprive it of its negative power.