gypsy n.
(US)1. an independent trucker or the truck they own.
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Amer. Thes. Sl. (2nd edn). | |
| AS XXXV:3 240: In truckers’ language a ‘gypsy’ is an owner-driven truck. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 95: gypsy Housetrucker. 1990s. |
2. a prostitute who travels around for trade or lives in a trailer park.
| [ | | in Indianapolis Star 12 Dec. pt 4 22/6: G.I. Gypsy — a smooth girl]. |
| Maledicta IX 150: The original argot of prostitution includes some words and phrases which have gained wider currency and some which have not […] gypsies (traveling or trailer broads). |
3. (US black) a promiscuous woman.
| Soulside 99: [T]he streetcorner men who affirm their own natural tendency toward promiscuity often talk about whatever they see as female infidelity in moral terms. ‘That bitch is a gypsy, that’s all she is’ . |
4. used in a variety of combs. (see below), usu. stereotyping Romanies as untrustworthy.
In compounds
(UK Und.) a ring with a diamond inset.
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Eve. Herald (Dublin) 9 Dec. 4/6: A ‘screwsman’ going to his ‘fence’ would inquire ‘What price a pair of “gypsy gauns,” a “red kettle,” a “white kettle,” a “Newgate tackle” and a “prop”. The ‘screwsman’ is asking what the ‘fence’ will pay for two single stone diamond rings, a gold watch, a silver watch, , or gold watch and chain and a tiepin. |
(US) a palm-reader’s.
| in Sweet Daddy 21: Used to make me sore running to those goddamned gypsy joints. |
a homosexual.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Guardian Editor 24 Mar. 20: ‘Gypsy queens’ – slang for gay men. |
(US) a business deal that never actually materializes.
 | ‘Racial Hostility’ 🎵 on Plugged In Permanent [album] Have you heard that Spics will steal / Japs are sneaks, a Gypsy’s deal. |
departure without warning and without settling one’s debts.
| Maledicta III:2 160: gypsy’s leave n Departure without warning or settling of one’s debts; from the Gypsy’s nomadic habits. |
see separate entry.
(US Und.) a form of criminal sleight of hand in which a high-denomination note is palmed and swapped for a low-denomination one.
| Walk on the Wild Side 194: It’s a little matter of a bill that went into your hand a C note and came back to me as a ten spot [...] it was you pulled the gypsy switch on your best, your only friend. |