queer, adj. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

queer adj.

[Ger. quer, oblique, skewed; the line between SE queer, strange, odd, peculiar, eccentric, and the Und. use is both semantically and chronologically slim; the SE slightly predates (at least in printed citations) the cant, but as the OED remarks, some examples of the one may in fact equally well serve for the other. Only the context gives any real clue, the most obvious of which occur in such undeniably Und. combs. as queer cove ; queer cuffin etc. Ribton-Turner, A History of Vagrants (1887), suggests Welsh chwired, craft, deceit or cunning. The use as a pej. description of homosexuals does not emerge until c.1915; like nigger n.¹, it has been repossessed by some homosexuals as an affirmative]

1. (UK Und., also quare, queerish, quer, quere, quier, quire) an all-purpose negative, the antonym of rum adj. (1)

c.1566		Harman Caveat for Common Cursetours in Viles & Furnivall (1907) 83: quier nought.
1592		Groundworke of Conny-catching n.p.: [as cit. c.1566].
1608		Dekker Lanthorne and Candle-Light Ch. 1: Quier signifies naught, and Cuffin (as I sayd before) a Man: and in Canting they term a Juftice of Peace, (because he punisheth them belike) by no other name than by Quier Cuffin, that is to say a Churle, or a Naughty man.
1612		Dekker Canting Song O per se O O1: You Mawnders all, stow what you stall, to Rome-coues watch so quire.
1648		Dekker Eng. Villainies (9th edn) .
1665		Head Eng. Rogue I 45: Till Cramprings quire, tip Cove his hire / and Quire-Ken do them catch.
a.1674		‘Canting Song’ Head Canting Academy (1674) 23: A Canniken will Quire Cuffin / So quire to been Coves watch.
1688		R. Holme Academy of Armory Ch. iii item 68c: Canting Terms used by Beggars, Vagabonds, Cheaters, Cripples and Bedlams. [...] Quier, cruel, naught.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Queere, base, Roguish, naught. How Queerely the Cull Tours? c. how roguishly the Fellow looks.
1707		J. Shirley Triumph of Wit 196: [as cit. a.1674].
1719		A. Smith Lives of Most Notorious Highway-men, etc. (1926) II [as cit. c.1698].
1720		in D’Urfey Pills to Purge Melancholy VI 157: Grave Dons of the Law and quere Prigs of the Gown.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1741		Canting Academy, or the Pedlar’s-French Dict. 111: Victuals not fit to eat, Quer Peck.
1754		Scoundrel’s Dict. 19: To speak ill – Cut Quere Whids.
1756		Sham Beggar I i: This is a damn’d queer Dog, ’ent he Jack?
1772		Bridges Burlesque Homer (3rd edn) 188: This bunter venus / Has thrown a queerish cloud between us. [Ibid.] 513: No man in this queer age can thrive, / But Jacobites of forty-five.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Queer or Quire, Base, roguish, bad, naught or worthless. How queerly the cull touts; how roguishly the fellow looks. It also means odd, uncommon. (cant).
a.1789		G. Parker (attrib.) ‘The Sandman’s Wedding’ in Farmer Musa Pedestris (1896) 65: For he’s the kiddy rum and queer, / That all the St. Giles’s boys do fear.
1797		Bridges Burlesque Homer (4th edn) II 272: Call me a stupid queer old toad!
1800		‘Holiday Time’ in Jovial Songster 69: So I drive oh; / Yet I carry some queer ones, you see, / And in holiday time all alive, oh.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1812		Egan Boxiana I 7: He strolled from race-grounds to fairs, endeavouring to pick up a crust as a gambler, but that proving a queer lay, he resorted to teaching the art of defence.
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang.
1821		‘An Amateur’ Real Life in London I 131: Rum slum—Gammon—queer talk or action, in which some fraudulent intentions are discoverable or suspected.
1822		C. Dibdin Yngr Larks of Logic, Tom and Jerry I ii: Dang it, you be a queer one.
1832		Egan Bk of Sports 26: The Pet’s mug looked a little queer.
1832		Sydney Gaz. 22 May 3/5: That’s the old King George, you know — though it does look summat queerish to me.
1838		Dickens Oliver Twist (1966) 192: If there’s anything queer about him once we get to work; in for a penny, in for a pound.
1838		J. Grant Sketches in London 57: It tastes queerish, old chap.
1847		‘Epistle from Joe Muggins’s Dog’ in Era (London) 8 Aug. 3/4: IT’s very so-so — nags queer, betting queer, tin queer, and everything else queer.
1850		F.E. Smedley Frank Fairlegh (1878) 486: ‘Who is this miller, Peter?’ [...] ‘Well, he’s a queer one,’ was the reply.
1853		North Devon Jrnl 28 July 6/1: Rushlights are queerish things to write on [...] This dark world would be worse without it.
1856		M. Griffith Autobiog. of a Female Slave 212: Dey spunk up and say dey was not niggers, but colored pussons, and dey call one anoder Mr. Wal, I t’ought it was quare enoff.
1858		A. Mayhew Paved with Gold 280: This looks queer [...] Not much to be nabbed here.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 259/1: At some of the places characterised by my informant as ‘rackety,’ ‘queer,’ or ‘Life in London,’ the charge is often 3d. as 4d. [Ibid.] 260/1: Queer doings in the dos (sleeping) and everything.
1862		H. Kingsley Ravenshoe II 82: That looks queerish.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 6/1: She would be handy to earn a ‘bob’ or two, when other things were ‘queer’.
1870		Stonehaven Jrnl 31 Mar. 3/6: Sensations of spooneyism steal over one [...] to look on the queerish clock-work movements of the laced, gew-gawed [...] scented, powdered [...] and fascinating nurses of lascivity.
1873		Sl. Dict. 264: Queer an old word once in continual use as a prefix, signifying base, roguish, and worthless, ? the opposite of rum, which signified good and genuine. queer, in all probability, is immediately derived from the cant language [...] it is more than probable that it was brought into this country, by the Gipseys, from Germany, where quer signifies ‘cross’ or ‘crooked.’.
1875		F.H. Sheppard Love Afloat 9: Queer craft and queer party.
1880		E.J. Milliken ‘Cad’s Calendar’ in Punch Almanack n.p.: If I don’t land some tin, my look-out’s queer.
1881		Brooklyn Dly Eagle (NY) 11 Dec. 4/7: ‘The Ballad of the Bunco Man’ [...] [He] garnered in the shiners / In a manner that was queer.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 21 Mar. 7/3: And when his credit fails at last, / And things are looking ‘queer,’ / He gets ‘whitewashed,’ a process known / To every trader here.
1890		Ipswich Jrnl 11 Jan. 4/7: Quixote Quicksight quizzed a queerish quid-box.
1895		E. Townsend Chimmie Fadden Explains 122: Maggie, de housemaid, is near as queer, only she ain’t got de style de Duchess has.
1901		Boy’s Own Paper 16 Mar. 373: He had known the man from school-days and had never admitted that he was more than ‘queer’ even when others declared him mad.
1901		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 4 Sept. 2/6: Startin’ games a little crummy, / Some as do say they is queer.
1904		Number 1500 Life In Sing Sing 251: Queer. insane.
1906		J.M. Synge Aran Islands (1912) II 105: He was a kind man but a queer man. Priests is queer people.
1908		‘O. Henry’ ‘A Tempered Wind’ in Gentle Grafter (1915) 172: Now I can go into a square, honest business and give all them queer jobs the shake.
1911		A. Bennett Card (1974) 39: Eh, you’re a queer ’un, Mester Machin!
1916		J. Lait ‘Charlie the Wolf’ in Beef, Iron and Wine (1917) 38: This is the layout where that queer alarm goes off every twenty minutes.
1924		G. Henderson Keys to Crookdom 415: Queer also is used to mean mentally deficient, strange.
1928		C. McKay Home to Harlem 200: Youse awful queer, chappie.
1937		E. Garnett Family from One End Street 135: Well, this was a queer go, thought Rosie.
1943		Dly Record (Lanarks) 21 June 6/3: ‘Some dashed queerish people knocing about in the hills’.
1948		D. Dodge Bullets For The Bridegroom (1953) 35: Why would a stranger give a hoot because somebody came across the street in his direction? It was damn queer.
1955		S. Beckett Waiting for Godot Act II: I missed you ... and at the same time I was happy. Isn’t that a queer thing?
1957		R. Prather Always Leave ’Em Dying 119: Queer-looking bug.
1960		‘Nino Culotta’ Cop This Lot 77: We’ve ’ad some queer drinks, but that takes the cake.
1961		L. McMurtry Horseman, Pass By (1997) 105: I guess I’m a queer, contrary old bastard.
1976		N. Thornburg Cutter and Bone (2001) 123: A man’s sex life is his own business, no matter how queer it may seem to someone else!
1994		(con. 1980s) G. Byrne Pictures in my Head 119: Oh yes, she is a queer one and I tell you!

2. (UK Und.) fake, counterfeit, esp. of money, jewellery, official papers etc; e.g. queer peg, a ‘bad’ shilling.

1703		Hell Upon Earth 6: Queer, small, not good.
1741		Ordinary of Newgate Account of the Malefactors executed at Tyburn 18th March 1740 part III 15: Instead of returning the good Guinea again, they used to give a Queer One.
1753		J. Poulter Discoveries (1774) 41: They gives them the quare Ned or Six; and ignorant People think it is the same they had first. [Ibid.] 43: He knaps quare; he swears false.
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang.
1818		Egan Boxiana II 423 Note: Queer, a term made use of by the dealers in soot, signifying a substitute [...] for the original article .
c.1830		‘Smith’s Frolic’ in Holloway & Black II (1979) 61: A scout coming up I tipt him a queer peg.
1838		Crim.-Con. Gaz. 1 Sept. 24/3: He was to be heard of in the Fleet prison, where he obtained a tidy living by selling queer jewellery, &c., &c.
1865		Dickens Our Mutual Friend (1994) 278: I want to go a little more into buying up queer bills.
1867		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 7 Sept. n.p.: Five ‘fly coppers’ who had more of the ‘queer’ bonds in this case than had Dr Shine.
1895		J. Greenwood Behind A Bus 137: He used to retail ‘queer’ sixpences at 2s. a dozen.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 63: Queer, base, worthless, etc.
1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 224: Queer? [...] It’s good enough tuh come out of the U.S. mint, sah, that’s how queer it is!
1908		‘O. Henry’ ‘A Tempered Wind’ in Gentle Grafter (1915) 163: I’m handling rhinestones [...] a small lot of the new queer ones and twos, and the Bonanza Budget.
1920		H. Wiley Wildcat 257: We needed those two vag wops you identified and needed ’em bad for launching the queer fifty paper.
1924		G. Henderson Keys to Crookdom 124: The swindler may victimize honest people through ‘queer’ stock, worthless real estate, forged checks, bogus money.
1924		D. Hammett Nightmare Town (2001) 33: Izzard is a plant! The whole damned town is queer.
1928		Phila. Eve. Bulletin 5 Oct. 40/4: Here are a few more terms and definitions from the ‘Racket’ vocabulary: [...] ‘Queer,’ counterfeit.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 153: Queer.–Crooked ; criminal.
1940		D. Maurer Big Con 205: I look at the note and told Jack it looked queer.
1956		R.T. Hopkins Banker Tells All 165: Like all makers of ‘queer’ coins he dare not pass them himself.
1957		‘Ed Lacy’ Lead With Your Left (1958) 93: Crazy shopkeeper phoned in he’d been stuck with a couple of queer ones.
1959		W. Burroughs Naked Lunch (1968) 150: The diamonds, emeralds, pearls [...] go into hock and replaced by queer replicas.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 232: She’s gonna spill that ‘queer scratch’ con I’ve been playing.
1973		G.V. Higgins Digger’s Game (1981) 73: I never saw more’n two of them [i.e. $1000 bills] in my whole fuckin’ life, and one of them was queer.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 38: Other convict terms that are either still with us or have only relatively recently dropped include: [...] queer, racket, scragged, screw (a prison warder).

3. associated with the underworld.

1849

Bell’s Life in Sydney 13 Oct. Sept. 3/3: Now I heard tho house was queer, so I goes a watchin’ it just to make sure — I’m of a decent family.

4. in senses of being ‘out of order’, of malfunctioning.

(a) ill, out of sorts; esp. in phr. feel queer, look queer.

1772		Bridges Burlesque Homer (3rd edn) 413: I find myself so plaguy queer.
1797		Bridges Burlesque Homer (4th edn) II 221: I find myself so plaguey queer.
1800		Sporting Mag. Apr. XVI 26/1: Very queer at dinner – took a walk afterwards to Fulham.
1815		D. Roberts Military Adventures of Johnny Newcome I 19: John found himself a little queer or so; Felt too a sort of swimming in his head.
1819		‘One of the Fancy’ Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress 15: And there sprawl’d, like a turtle turn’d queer on its back.
1830		W.T. Moncrieff Heart of London II i: We must gammon queer – there’s extra allowance on the sick list.
1858		A. Mayhew Paved with Gold 88: Say mother’s queer and the baby dying o’ thirst, and that may fetch a ha’penny.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 109/1: Many were the queer ‘mugs’ put on by those who had been ‘gone through’.
1879		G.R. Sims Dagonet Ballads 74: Write it quick, for I’m queer, / And there’s mists comin’ over my sight.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 7 Mar. 18/1: Somebody suggested breakfast at hotel. Don’t know about breakfast; feel ‘queer.’.
1896		A. Morrison Child of the Jago (1982) 84: Mother, I b’lieve Looey’s queer. I think she wants some med’cine.
1901		Bulletin (Sydney) 20 July 32/2: D’yer think I look sick? [...] Met Tom Merry just now. [...] He thought I was looking queer.
1912		P.C. Wren Dew & Mildew 11: Mullen was Queer himself [...] He had gone into the jungle a sane, cheery, hopeful young man. He emerged an old one — and Queer.
1917		A.G. Empey Over the Top ‘Tommy’s Dict. of the Trenches’ 304: ‘Queer.’ Tommy’s term for being sick. The doctor immediately informs him that there is nothing queer about him, and Tommy doesn’t know whether to feel insulted or complimented.
1921		D.L. Sayers Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1977) 6: Sheila’s queer, too – overwork, poor girl.
1932		(con. WWI) L. Mann Flesh in Armour 313: They had known other cases [...] of men whom the war had turned queer.
1934		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 444: He was kind of queer, though [...] he didn’t act like he was all there.
1938		(con. 1900s) J.B. Booth Sporting Times 138: Buy me a baked potato / I feel so deathly queer.
1938		G. Kersh Night and the City 78: Do you like Irish whiskey? I hate it. It made me queer.
1945		‘Henry Green’ Loving (1978) 91: I’ve come over queer.
1949		R. Service ‘The Parson’s Song’ in Songs of a Sun Lover (1955) 13: It put me queer, and for near a year I never drew sober breath, / Till I found myself in the bughouse ward with a claim staked out on death.
1977		S. Berkoff East in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 78: I did turn queer when I saw our Mike – dirty bugger.

(b) drunk.

1831		Satirist (London) 8 May 35/1: [M]e and Mrs. Doosey [...] drank four or five glasses [of gin] a-piece more, till I was so queer that I knew nothing more of the matter [...] we were both drunk, and that’s the truth’.
1908		Truth (Brisbane) 21 June 9/6: Next day was recriminations, / Likewise lots of English beer / With a lady friend who called, and /Soon they did get werry queer.

1895

‘’Arry on the Season’ in Punch 22 June 298/1: The parks jest like bloomin peraries, the water supply going queer.

(d) in difficulties.

1924

C.J. Dennis ‘A Holy War’ in Chisholm (1951) 77: ‘Do you mean stoush?’ I sez. ‘Fer if yeh do / I warn yeh that a scrap might put me queer.’.

5. homosexual; thus queerness n., homosexuality; also of women, lesbian.

1902		Vancouver Dly World 11 Oct. 10/4: A ‘sissy’ is an incomplete man [...] He has none of the masculine traits of a man and not one of the good qualities of a woman [...] But then we must remember what the Old Quaker said: ‘Everybody is queer but thee and me. And sometimes thee is a little queer’.
1914		L.A. Times 14 Nov. II 8: He said that the Ninety-six Club was the best; that it was composed of the ‘queer’ people, that got together every week. I asked Lowe why they called it the Ninety-six Club, and he said something about turning the letters around, before and behind.
1922		Children’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor Practical Value of Scientific Study of Juvenile Delinquency n.p.: A young man, easily ascertainable to be unusually fine in other characteristics, is probably ‘queer’ in sex tendency [R].
1923		R. McAlmon Companion Volume 214: Isn’t it strange though how all the queer men in the United States are friends of mine – the bitches all love me.
1925		R. McAlmon Distinguished Air (1963) 17: We voted against all the gold-digging dance places, and decided to look over the queer cafés.
1928		M. West Pleasure Man (1997) Act I: mrs. hetherington: Ugh! Such people [...] they’re so queer. hetherington: Yes, my dear – extraordinarily queer. I think queer is the word.
1929		V.W. Saul ‘Vocab. of Bums’ in AS IV:5 343: Queer—Degenerate; abnormal.
1932		‘R. Scully’ Scarlet Pansy 341: Whoops, Whoops! Whoops, my dear! / Can you tell me if she’s queer?
1934		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 299: ‘Say, are all these guys queer?’ the Polack asked.
1934		H. Miller Tropic of Cancer (1963) 101: I think she’s queer.
1936		W. Holtby South Riding (1988) 53: There were some who happened to be queer and couldn’t help it, like that poor parson fellow who got himself into trouble up Norton Witral way with choir-boys.
1937		‘Boxcar Bertha’ Sister of the Road (1975) 265: I’ve met a good many ‘queer’ women (lesbians).
1947		(con. 1944) J.H. Burns Gallery (1948) 42: That was why every American soldier who wasn’t queer had to have his buddy.
1948		Kerouac letter 2 Jan. in Charters 1 (1995) 140: I always felt uneasy about your queerness.
1948		K. Williams Diaries 1 Jan. 18: Finished reading Brideshead Revisited — some very amusing references to the queer side and so forth etc!
1951		Kerouac On the Road (The Orig. Scroll) (2007) 114: Neal got tired of that [i.e. ‘his relation with Allen (Ginsberg)’], specfically of queerness.
1951		P. Larkin letter 26 Jan. in Thwaite Sel. Letters (1992) 172: During the year I have merely graduated from ‘queer’ to ‘queer but nice’ in her mind... I find it amazingly difficult to talk to girls.
1956		A. Ginsberg ‘America’ [poem] America I’m putting my queer shoulder to the wheel.
1959		F. Norman Fings I i: Horace is a queer interior decorator. He is dressed in a pair of tight-fitting white trousers, green jacket, purple pullover and bow-tie. He walks and behaves mincingly.
1961		F. Kohner Gidget Goes Hawaiian 51: I know I’m not queer or I am and don’t want to admit it.
1962		(con. 1953–7) L. Yablonsky Violent Gang (1967) 221: After this queer bastard blew us [laughs], we beat the hell out of him – but good.
1962		F. Norman Guntz 64: The queer scene is also very popular around the show bizz lark.
1962		(con. WWII) J. Jones Thin Red Line (1963) 418: There were lots of queer Cooks and Bakers and such, coke sackers, sock tuckers, and cork soakers, all around the island, and everybody knew about them.
1966		(con. 1948–52) L. Thomas Virgin Soldiers 38: You queer or sommat?
1966		T. Keyes All Night Stand 163: He must be rotten mad, and probably queer as well.
1968		J. Colebrook Cross of Lassitude 129: Baby says she’s been turning queer for a long time, and Sugar says this is for real.
1973		D. Goines Street Players 41: She wondered briefly if he might be queer.
1978		L. Kramer Faggots 381: I’m not queer. A little crazy maybe. And I’m not a faggot. I’m a Homosexual Man.
1981		S. Berkoff Decadence in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 12: One day he asked me to stick it in / right up his ass / I felt a little queer I must confess.
1982		P. Theroux London Embassy 27: Maybe I was queer! Batchelor means queer!
1984		A. Sayle Train to Hell 149: Still, serves him right, silly queer bastard.
1986		S. King It (1987) 807: I don’t go for that queer stuff.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 55: He’s not dancing because he’s queer.
1993		(con. 1950s) Kennedy & Davies Boots of Leather (2014) 7: Sometimes butches would refer to themselves as ‘queer’ to indicate social stigma.
1996		P. Howard The Joy (2015) [ebook] ‘Where’s that little faggot? [...] Tell that little queer fucker I’m gonna kill him’.
1998		I. Welsh Filth 259: I’m hoping that Gillman will [...] smash that queer coupon.
2000		Guardian G2 14 Jan. 5: Some gays and lesbians love queer-only spaces.
2003		Guardian G2 19 Aug. 2: The woman vilified me in the street, calling me a ‘fucking queer cunt’.
2004		N. ‘Razor’ Smith A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun 213: I wasn’t a rabid ‘queer-hater’ like some of the gang.
2005		P. Temple Broken Shore (2007) [ebook] Michael the fag. Did his mother know Michael was queer?
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 127: With tastes like mine I should have been as queer as Dada.

6. (orig. US Und.) of a heterosexual male, sexually unorthodox.

1937		‘Boxcar Bertha’ Sister of the Road (1975) 178: The big money is in the ‘queer’ guys. And what freaks some of ’em are!
1947		G. Kersh Prelude to a Certain Midnight Bk I Ch. 13: this sort of nonsense with dog-whips, or whatever it might be [...] Your Queer fellow has his fun [...] with the connivance and the assistance of what a normal person would call the ‘victim’. The willing victim.
1958		Murtagh & Harris Cast the First Stone 152: Sure, they want you to do queer things with them, but that’s because they’re queer inside of them [...] I must admit some of them sure are queer.

As a general negative

In compounds

queer beak (n.) [beak n.¹ (1)]

(UK Und.) an incorruptible magistrate.

1753		J. Poulter Discoveries (1774) 42: A rum Beak; a good Justice. A quare Beak; a bad Justice.
1786		Whole Art of Thieving A quare Beak a bad Justice.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1821		Flash Dict.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. 5: Beak, queer, – a magistrate that is particularly strict to his duty.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
c.1850		Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict.
1859		in : Matsell Vocabulum.
1867		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 14 Sept. n.p.: Big Moll Johnson, the Amazon of ‘Hooker’s division,’ a ‘rusty’ old ‘gin pig,’ lost to virtue and wedded to sin, was before the ‘beakquere’ [...] for creating a disturbance in the ‘snoozing ken’.

queer belch (n.) [belch n. (1)]

sour beer.

1848

Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

queer bird (n.) (also choir bird, quire bird) [ bird n.¹ (3a); by 18C the term referred to any unreformed villain; Hindley’s ety. is fanciful]

1. (UK Und.) a mendicant villain who, recently released from prison, returns to robbery, specializing in stealing horses.

c.1561		Awdeley Fraternitye of Vacabondes in Viles & Furnivall (1907) 4: A Quire bird is one that came lately out of prison, & goeth to seeke seruice. He is commonly a stealer of Horses.
1608		Dekker Belman of London D2: Your Quire-Birdes are such as haue sung in such cages as Newgate or a country Gaole [...] they seeke presently to build their nests vnder some honest mans roofe, not with intent to bring him in any profit, but onely to put themselues into money or apparell (though it be by filching).
1669		W. Winstanley New Help To Discourse 132: Quire Birds, are those who have sung in such cages as Newgate, or some Country Goal [sic], who having get loose, fall to their old trade of roguing and thieving again.
1674		Head Canting Academy (2nd edn) 53: Quire Birds are such who have sung in the Whit, the Naskin; that is, Newgate, Bridewell, or some Country Goal, who having got loose fall to their old trade of Roguing and Thieving again.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: queer birds c. such as having got loose, return to their old Trade of Roguing and Thieving.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum 71: queer birds Reformed convicts who return to their old profession.
1862		E. de la Bédollière Londres et les Anglais 317/1: queer blrds, voleurs libérés qui ont repris leurs vieilles habitudes.
1871		C. Hindley Old Bk Collector’s Misc. 75: quire or choir cove or bird. — A complete rogue; one that has sung in different choirs or cages; from whence we have gaol birds.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 63: Queer Birds, reformed convicts who return to their old calling.
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 318: Queer birds (rogues released from prison).

2. a recidivist.

c.1786		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: Quire Bird. One that has sing in Different Cages, i.e. Goals. Cant.
1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn) n.p.: Quire, or Choir Bird. A complete rogue, one that has sung in different choirs or cages, i.e. gaols.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1788].

3. see also SE compounds below.

queer blabber (n.) [blab v. (3)]

(UK Und.) a tell tale, a betrayer.

1833

H. Smith Gale Middleton 1 154: Blood’s a queer blabber now and then, and tells tales.

queer bloke (n.)

(Aus. und.) a pickpocket’s assistant.

1923

Smith’s Wkly (Sydney) 2 June 21/2: The queer bloke blocked the gangway while I took Mr. Lantern-jaw’s purse.

queer blowing (n.) (also queer blowen) [blowen n. (1)]

(UK Und.) an ugly woman.

1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant n.p.: queer blowing ugly wench.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

queer bluffer (n.) (also queer buffer) [bluffer n.¹]

a ‘sneaking, sharping, Cut-throat Ale-house or Inn-keeper’ (B.E.).

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew.
1725		New Canting Dict.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Queer bluffer The master of a public-house the resort of rogues and sharpers, a cut-throat inn or alehouse keeper.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785].
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 19: An alehouse-keeper is ‘a buffer;’ and he is a ‘Queer buffer’ provided he chalks double, or is a sharper. Quere whether Bluffer is not used quite as often?
1827		Commercial Advertiser (N.Y.) 1 Feb. 2/3: The ken cove, [...] being a Queer buffer [...] a regular brush was kicked up, and the Charlies being called, before they could burn the ken, [...] they were nabbed and carried to the nask.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. 26: Queer buffer [sic] – sharp inn keeper.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open [as cit. 1835].
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 63: Queer Bluffer, the keeper of a rum-shop who assists thieves.

queer booze (n.) (also queer bowse, quire bowse) [booze n. (1)]

sour or inferior beer, ‘small and naughtye drynke’ (Harman).

c.1566		Harman Caveat for Common Cursetours in Viles & Furnivall (1907) 85: I cutt it is a quyer bouse [...] I saye it is a small and naughtye drynke.
1608		Dekker Belman of London (3rd) J3: I cut, it is quire bowse, I bowld a flag the last darkmans.
1610		Rowlands Martin Mark-all 40: Quire bowse bad drinke.
1639		J. Taylor Crabtree Lectures 191: Mort. Ile tell thee queere Cove, thou must maund at the Gigger for Pannum and Casum, or a cheat of queere bowse, or Kacklen Cheate, and whid rumpsie.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant n.p.: Queer bowse bad beer.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. 27: Queer booze – bad beer.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open [as cit. 1835].

queer bub (n.) [bub n.¹]

second-rate or sour beer.

a.1790		H.T. Potter New Dict. Cant (1795).
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1821		Flash Dict.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
c.1850		Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict.

queer buffer (n.)

(UK Und.) a cur, a valueless dog.

1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

queer bung (n.) [bung n.¹ (1)]

(UK Und.) an empty purse (viewed as an object of robbery).

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew.
1725		New Canting Dict.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

queer chum (n.) [chum n. (1)]

a suspicious companion.

1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

queer clout (n.) [clout n.¹ (1)]

(UK Und.) a cheap, prob. cotton, handkerchief that as such is not worth stealing.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Queere-clout c. a sorry, coarse, ord’nary or old Handkerchief, not worth Nimming.
1725		New Canting Dict.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict.

queer cove (n.) (also quire cove) [cove n. (1)]

1. (UK Und., also quier cove) a villain.

1592		Greene Quip for an Upstart Courtier G3: It is reported you can lift or nip a boung like a quire Coue if you want pence.
1610		Rowlands Martin Mark-all 42: For all the Rome coves are budgd a beake / And the quire coves tippe the lowre.
1639		J. Taylor Crabtree Lectures 191: Mort. Ile tell thee queere Cove, thou must maund at the Gigger for Pannum and Casum, or a cheat of queere bowse, or Kacklen Cheate, and whid rumpsie.
1641		R. Brome Jovial Crew IV ii: Bing awast, The Quire Cove and the Harmanbeck.
1651		T. Randolph Hey for Honesty III i: By lusty doxies, there’s not a quire cove, Nobler than I in all the bousing kens That are ’twixt Hockly-i’-th’-hole and Islington.
1665		Head Eng. Rogue I 51: Quier-Cove, A Rogue.
1674		Head Canting Academy (2nd edn).
1684		W. Nevison in Newgate Calendar I (1926) 291: ‘Now,’ saith he, ‘that thou art entered into our fraternity, [...] for he that will be a quier cove, a professed rogue, must observe this rule, set down by an ancient patrico in these words: “Wilt thou a-begging go. o per se-o, o per se-o. Then must thou God forsake, And to the devil thee be take. o per se-o, etc.”’.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew.
1703		Hell Upon Earth 6: Queer Cove, a Rogue.
1707		J. Shirley Triumph of Wit 194: The Prancer drew the Quere Cove at the cropping of the Rottam through the Rum pads of the Rum-vill, and was flogg’d by the Nubbing-cove. [The Rogue was dragged at the Cart’s Arse through the chief Streets of London, and whipp’d by the Hangman].
1725		New Canting Dict.
1734		C. Johnson Hist. of Highwaymen &c. 105: [as cit. 1684].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
a.1790		H.T. Potter New Dict. Cant (1795).
1798		‘St Giles’s Greek’ in Sporting Mag. Dec. XIII 164/1: A poor old wiganowns flat was clerked at drop-a-cog by a couple of queer coves.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1821		‘An Amateur’ Real Life in London I 316: A learned Judge once, examining a queer covy, a flash customer, or a rum fellow.
1826		C.M. Westmacott Eng. Spy II 390: Queer Coves, I hope you have left your dabs, and nobs, all right.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1839		(con. 1715) W.H. Ainsworth Jack Sheppard (1917) 109: Who’s that queer cove in the full-bottomed wig?
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

2. (also quer cove) a poor man.

1741

Canting Academy, or the Pedlar’s-French Dict. 113: A poor Man A quer Cove.

3. a turnkey.

1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

queer cramp-ring (n.)

see cramp-rings n.

queer crib (n.)

(Aus.) a criminal tavern and/or brothel.

1843

Satirist & Sporting Chron. (Sydney) 1 Apr. 3/3: The queer cribs [...] back of Prince-street had better take care of what they are about — he has heard of their flare-up’s and means paying them a visit.

queer cuffin (n.) (also queer cuffen, quire cuffin) [cuffin n. (1)]

1. (UK Und.) a Justice of the Peace (cf. cuffin-queer under cuffin n.).

c.1566		Harman Caveat for Common Cursetours in Viles & Furnivall (1907) 84: the quyer cuffyn, the Iusticer of peace.
1592		Groundworke of Conny-catching n.p.: [as cit. c.1566].
1608		Dekker Lanthorne and Candle-Light Ch. 1: A Churle is called, a Quier cuffin; Quier signifies naught, and Cuffin (as I said before) a Man: and in Canting they term a Juftice of peace, (because he punisheth them belike) by no other name than by Quier cuffin, that is to say a Churle, or a Naughty man.
1612		Dekker ‘Bing Out Bien Morts’ in Farmer Musa Pedestris (1896) 13: A canniken, mill quier cuffin, / so quier to ben cove’s watch.
1622		Beaumont & Fletcher Beggar’s Bush III iv: Let the queer-cuffin / And harmanbecks trie, and trine to the ruffin.
1637		Dekker ‘Canting Song’ in Eng. Villainies (8th edn) O: To the quier Cuffing we bing.
1641		R. Brome Jovial Crew II i: Toure out with your Glaziers, I swear by the Ruffin, / That we are assaulted by a queer Cuffin.
1665		Head Eng. Rogue I 47: Pardon the expression, for they call a Justice Quier Cuffin; that is to say [...] a wicked, knavish, or foolish man.
a.1674		‘Canting Song’ Head Canting Academy (1674) 23: A Canniken will Quire Cuffin / So quire to been Coves watch.
1688		R. Holme Academy of Armory Ch. iii item 68c: Canting Terms used by Beggars, Vagabonds, Cheaters, Cripples and Bedlams. [...] Quier cuffing, a Justice of Peace, a naughty Fellow, a Churl.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Queere-cuffin c. a Justice of Peace.
1707		‘Rum-Mort’s Praise of Her Faithless Maunder’ in Farmer Musa Pedestris (1896) 36: Duds and cheats thou oft hast won, / Yet the cuffin quire couldst shun.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
c.1750–1882		B.M. Carew Life and Adventures.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1786		Oxford Jrnl 4 Mar. 3/2: What made thee tell so many lies to the Queer Cuffin.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1818		W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian (1883) 260: Deil a gude fellow that has been but twelvemonth on the lay, be he ruffler or padder, but he knows my gybe as well as the jark of e’er a queer cuffin in England – and there’s rogue’s Latin for you.
1830		Lytton Paul Clifford III 109: The poor fellows had been carried to the town of —, and brought before the queer cuffin.
1837		Disraeli Venetia I 153: Queer cuffin will be the word yet, if we don’t tout.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
1855		C. Kingsley Westward Ho II 170: ‘Go away,’ I heard her say [...] and then something about a ‘queer cuffin,’ (that’s a justice in these canters’ thieves’ Latin).
1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 79: QUEER CUFFEN, a justice of the peace or magistrate, — a very ancient term mentioned in the first slang dictionary.
1861		Melbourne Punch ‘City Police Court’ 3 Oct. 234/1: Prisoner. A cakey-pannum-fencer, as ought to know better, peached on her, and she was nabbed by the sharping omee, and the queer-cuffen shut her up in the jug for a moll tooler.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1881		Newcastle Courant 2 Sept. 6/5: With my high character for knuckling, it was enough to be seen in a crowd to ensure my being taken before the queer cuffen if gripped.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 63: Queer Cuffin, a magistrate.

2. a peasant.

c.1566		Harman Caveat for Common Cursetours.
1592		Groundworke of Conny-catching n.p.: Yonder dwelleth a quier cuffen it were beneshp to mill him. Yonder dwelleth a hoggish and churlish man, it were well done to robbe him.
1688		see sense 2.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Queere-cuffin, a Justice of Peace; also a Churl.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
c.1750–1882		B.M. Carew Life and Adventures.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

queer cull (n.) [cull n.¹ (4)]

1. a foolish dandy, a fop.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Queere-cull c. a Fop, or Fool, a Codshead.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1749		Fielding Tom Jones (1959) 281: I will show a way to empty the pocket of a queer cull without any danger of the nubbing cheat.
a.1790		H.T. Potter New Dict. Cant (1795).
c.1800		‘The Dustman’s Delight’ in Holloway & Black I (1975) 87: The queer cull was done rumly.
1856		‘A Harassing Painsworth’ in Yates & Brough (eds) Our Miscellany 28: ‘What is the queer cull’s business here?’ asked the rich-toned voice of Blueacre.

2. a poor, ill-dressed person.

c.1698

B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Queere-cull [...] a shabby poor Fellow.

3. (UK Und.) a passer of counterfeit money.

1718		C. Hitchin Regulator 20: A Quear-Cull, one that puts off bad Money.
1721		Cibber Refusal 10: The queer Cull promises to advance me t’other three, and bring me home, provide you will let him sneak into your List for a cool Thousand.
1747		Life and Character of Moll King 12: We had ne’er a Queer Cull, a Buttock, or a Porpus, amongst them, but all as Rum and as Quiddish as ever Jonathan sent to be great Merchants in Virginia.
1768		(con. 1710–25) Tyburn Chronicle II in Groom (1999) xxviii: A Queer Cull One that puts off bad Money.

queer degen (n.) [degen n. (1)]

(UK Und.) a brass, iron or steel-hilted sword, with no special ornamentation.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Queere-degen c. an Iron, Steel, or Brass-hilted Sword.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant n.p.: queer dogen rusty sword.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. 27: Queer dogen [sic] – a rusty sword.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open [as cit. 1835].

queer diver (n.) [diver n. (3)]

(UK Und.) a bungling, incompetent pickpocket.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Queere-Diver c. a bungling Pick-pocket.
1719		A. Smith Lives of Most Notorious Highway-men, etc. (1926) II.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].

queer doxy (n.) [doxy n. (2)]

(UK Und.) a slatternly woman.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Queere-doxy c. a jilting Jade, a sorry shabby Wench.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1821		Flash Dict.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. 27: Queer doxy – a clumsy woman.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

queer drawers (n.) [SE drawers]

(UK Und.) yarn, coarse worsted, ordinary or old stockings.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Queere-drawers c. Yarn, coarse Worsted, ord’nary or old Stockings.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].

queer duke (n.) [duke n.¹ (2)] (UK Und.)

1. an impoverished gentleman.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Queere-duke c. a poor decayed Gentleman.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].

2. a lean, half-starved person.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Queere-duke c. [...] a lean, thin, half Starved Fellow.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].

queer figure (n.)

(UK Und.) a deformed man.

1809

G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.

queer flash (n.)

(UK Und.) a poor quality, worn out wig.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Queer Flash, c. a sorry weather-beaten Wig, not worth Stealing, fit only to put on a Pole or dress a Scare-Crow.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1785		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

queer fellow (n.)

(UK und.) a detective.

1935

Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks 9: Queer fellow: Detective Officer.

queer flicker (n.) [flicker n.¹]

(UK Und.) a poor quality or ‘ordinary’ glass.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Queer Flicker, c. a Green or ordinary Glass.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].

queer fun (n.) [fun n.²]

(UK Und.) a cheat or trick that does not work out as intended.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Queere-fun c. a bungling Cheat or Trick.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1843		Hereford Jrnl 5 Apr. 4/2: Lee replied that it was queer fun, as the barrow had been taken away with a heavy load.

queer gill (n.) [gill n.¹ (2)]

1. a shabby fellow.

1856		‘A Harassing Painsworth’ in Yates & Brough (eds) Our Miscellany 28: Listen! all you high pads and low pads, rum gills and queer gills, patricos, palliards, priggers, whipjacks, and jackmen, from the arch rogue to the needy mizzler.
1984		Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 948/1: ca. 1800–40.

2. in fig. use, an untrusting, suspicious person.

1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1821		Flash Dict.
1827		Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. 23 June 3/2: The latter proved himself to be a ‘queer gill’.
1834		(con. 1737–9) W.H. Ainsworth Rookwood (1857) 172: Our own respective names, as high Pads and low Pads, Rum Gills and Queer Gills, [etc.].
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
1858		A. Mayhew Paved with Gold 255: I thought he was a ‘queer gill’ (suspicious) at first, and smoked us, from what he palavered to Phil when he gave him his ‘deux-wins’ (twopence).

In compounds

queer house (n.)

(Aus.) a meeting-place for unmarried couples to have sex, a maison de passe.

1894

Truth (Sydney) 4 Feb. 3/7: three witnesses testified to having seen her go into ‘queer’ houses with men [...] and to — well to other things [Ibid.] 3/8: The often demonstrated un-wisdom of lovely women [...] being followed and found in queer houses.

queer ken (n.) (also quier-ken, quire ken, quirken, quyer ken) [ken n.¹ (1)] (UK Und.)

1. a prison.

c.1566		Harman Caveat for Common Cursetours in Viles & Furnivall (1907) 84: quyerkin a pryson house.
1592		Groundworke of Conny-catching [as cit. c.1566].
1608		Dekker Lanthorne and Candle-Light Ch. 1: Then to the quier Ken to scowre the Cramp-ring, And then to be Tryn’d on the Chates, in the lightmans.
1610		Rowlands Martin Mark-all 40: Quire ken a prison house.
1612		Dekker Canting Song O per se O O2: Till Cramprings quier, tip Cove his hire / and quier-kens do them catch.
1637		Dekker Canting Song in Eng. Villainies (8th edn) as 1612.
1648		Dekker Canters Dict. Eng. Villainies (9th edn).
1665		Head Eng. Rogue [as cit. 1612].
1674		Head Canting Academy (2nd edn).
1688		R. Holme Academy of Armory Ch. iii item 68c: Canting Terms used by Beggars, Vagabonds, Cheaters, Cripples and Bedlams. [...] Quyer Ken, the Jayl, a Naughty house.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Queere-ken c. an Ill House, or a Prison.
1707		J. Shirley Triumph of Wit.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
c.1786		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: Queer ken, a Prison. Cant.
1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (3rd edn).
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
2019		P. Baker Fabulosa 297/1: queer ken a prison.

2. (also quer ken) a house not worth robbing.

1741		Canting Academy, or the Pedlar’s-French Dict. 114: A poor House A Quer Ken.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1821		Flash Dict.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. 27: Queer ken – a gentleman’s house without the furniture.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open [as cit. 1835].

queer ken hall (n.) (also quirken hall)

a prison.

1610

Rowlands Martin Mark-all 42: But if spid we shall be clyd, / And carried to the quirken hall.

queer kicks (n.) [kicks n.¹]

(UK Und.) old, worn-out trousers; trousers of coarse material.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Queere-kicks c. coarse, ord’nary or old Breeches.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

queer kid (n.)

a tough prize-fighter.

1827

Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. 23 June 3/2: The wrestling this day was the best ever seen in London, Cann and Stone had the queerest kids matched against them which the Metropolis can produce.

queer lap (n.) [lap n.² (2)]

(UK Und.) bad liquor.

a.1790		H.T. Potter New Dict. Cant (1795).
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1821		Flash Dict.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
c.1850		Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict.

queer lark (n.)

(UK und.) the world of crime.

1935

Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks n.p.: At the queer lark: [...] committing crime of any kind.

queer lot (n.)

second-rate goods or produce.

1885

Dly Gaz. for Middlesborough 29 Aug. 3/5: All the fakes and dodges that enabled a man to get rid of a queer lot from Billingsgate at a spanking profit.

queer lully (n.) [lully n.²; despite citations, Partridge is suspicious of validity]

(UK Und.) a deformed child.

1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant n.p.: queer lully ill deformed child.
1821		Flash Dict.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

queer mort (n.) [mort n.¹]

1. (UK Und.) a woman suffering from venereal disease; ‘a dirty Drab, a jilting Wench, a Pockey jade’ (B.E.).

1648		Dekker Eng. Villainies (9th edn) n.p.: Quier Mort A Quean who hath ye pox.
1665		Head Eng. Rogue I 51: Quier-Mort, A Pocky Jade.
1674		Head Canting Academy (2nd edn) 178: Queer-Mort A pockie baggage.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Queere-mort c. a dirty Drab, a jilting Wench, a Pockey Jade.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1741		Canting Academy, or the Pedlar’s-French Dict.
c.1786		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: Queer mort. A diseased strumpet. Cant.
1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn).
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1786].
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

2. (also quer mort) a poor woman.

1741

Canting Academy, or the Pedlar’s-French Dict. 113: A poor Woman A quer Mort.

queer nab (n.) [nab n.¹ (3)]

(UK Und.) a cheap, shabby hat, thus one that is not worth stealing.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Queere-nab c. a Felt, Carolina, Cloth, or ord’nary Hat, not worth whipping off a Man’s Head.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Queer nab, a felt hat, or other bad hat.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785].
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

queer nantz (n.) [nantz n.]

(UK Und.) bad brandy.

1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1821		Flash Dict.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

queer nicks (n.) [? mis-reading of kicks n.¹]

(UK Und.) worn-out breeches.

1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

queer ogles (n.) [ogle n. (1)]

1. (UK Und.) cross eyes; thus queer-ogled, squinting.

1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant n.p.: queer ogles squinting eyes.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 129: ‘Queer ogled;’ squinting.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. 26: Queer ogles – squinting eyes.
1840		Old Fellow (London) 14 Nov. 3/1: John Stew, the musician, with his queer ogles.
c.1850		Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict.

2. in sing. a black eye.

1823		Morn. Advertiser (London) 22 Aug. 4/3: The glims were doused and a prime lark ensued [...] which produced claret, and a few queer ogles.
1828		‘A Flat Enlightened’ Life in the West II 88: Doo-all, the hellite, a German with a queer ogle, and — , the safe player.

queer patter (n.) [patter n. (2)]

(UK Und.) a foreign language.

1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant n.p.: Queer patter talking in a foreign language.
1821		Flash Dict.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

queer peeper (n.) [peeper n. (2)]

a badly made, thus distorting mirror.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Queere-peepers c. old-fashioned, ord’nary, black-fram’d, or common Looking-glasses.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].

queer peepers (n.) [peeper n. (1)]

(UK Und.) squinting or short-sighted eyes.

1725

New Canting Dict. n.p.: queere-peepers [...] poreblind, or dim-sighted Eyes, in Opposition to Rum Peepers, beautiful Eyes.

queer people (n.)

(UK Und.) criminals.

1941

V. Davis Phenomena in Crime 176: The man who ran it for the accomodation of queer people.

queer place (n.) [poss. implication of sense 2 above]

1. prison.

1936		J. Curtis Gilt Kid 16: ‘Yes,’ he said looking down on his striped suit with obvious pride, ‘this whistle I got on’s a bit different from the old grey one they dish you out with back in the queer place.’.
1950		P. Hoskins No Hiding Place! 191/2: Queer Place. Prison.

2. a lavatory.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 948/2: since ca. 1950, at latest.

queer plunger (n.) [SE plunger, a diver]

a confidence trickster who plunges into water and is saved from ‘drowning’. Conveniently pre-assembled ‘rescuers’ then claim money for saving the person.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Queer plungers Cheats who throw themselves into the water, in order that they may be taken up by their accomplices, who carry them to one of the houses appointed by the Humane Society for the recovery of drowned persons, where they are rewarded by the society with a guinea each; and the supposed drowned person, pretending he was driven to that extremity by great necessity, also frequently sent away with a contribution in his pocket.
1789		G. Parker Life’s Painter 137: There’s Touching Sue, Tolibon Nan, two or three queer plungers, a running rumbler, smacking Sam, a Cock-a-brass, and a sky-larker, &c.
a.1790		H.T. Potter New Dict. Cant (1795).
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785].
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
1862		E. de la Bédollière Londres et les Anglais 317/1: queer plungers, faux noyés. Ils tombent à l’eau comme par mégarde, ou perdent pied en se baignant; des complices apostés s’élancent à leur secours, les portent dans une des stations de la Société humaine, et reçoivent une récompense.

queer prancer (n.) [SE prancer/prancer n. (1)] (UK Und.)

1. an ageing prostitute.

c.1698

B.E. Dict. Canting Crew.

2. a second-rate and/or worn-out horse.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Queere-prancer c. a Founder’d Jade, an ord’nary low-priz’d Horse.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1801		‘Modern Dict.’ in Sporting Mag. May XVIII .
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum.
1863		Aberdeen Jrnl 16 Sept. 8/3: There is the ‘rum prad,’ the ‘queer prancer,’ and the ‘willing tit’.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 63: Queer Prancer, a bad horse.

3. a cowardly horse stealer.

1725		New Canting Dict. n.p.: queere-prancer [...] a cowardly or faint-hearted Horse-stealer.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. 1725].
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.

queer rooster (n.) [SE rooster]

a police spy who frequents thieves’ haunts, often feigning sleep in order to listen to their conversations; thus dorse a darkey on the queer roost v., to fake sleep in order to overhear conversation.

1781		G. Parker View of Society II 126: Whenever [...] a stranger is discovered, especially if he should sleep or seem to be asleep, ‘Look at the Queer Rooster,’ says one. ‘Blast my Eyes!’ cries another.
1788		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd edn) n.p.: Queer Rooster. An informer that pretends to be sleeping, and thereby overhears the conversation of thieves in night cellars.
1789		G. Parker Life’s Painter 173: A person that sleeps soundly is called a Rum Snoozer. If he shams sleep to listen to conversation, then they say he is a Queer Rooster.
1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (3rd edn).
1801		G. Hangar Life, Adventures and Opinions II 60: Your flash-man, is [...] dorsing a darkey upon the queer roost .
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1788].
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum 71: queer rooster A fellow that lodges among thieves to hear what they have to say, and then imparts his information to officers for a consideration.
1889–90		Barrère & Leland Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant II. 162/2: Queer rooster (American thieves), a man that lodges among thieves to pick up information for the police.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 63: Queer Rooster, a fellow who lives with thieves to get information for the police.

queer rotan (n.) (also queer rotar) [rotan n.]

(UK Und.) a run-down coach.

1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant n.p.: Queer rotar bad, ill-looking coach.
1821		Flash Dict. [as cit. 1809].
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. [as cit. 1809].
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

queer rums (n.) [rum adj. (1), lit. ‘bad good things’]

confusing talk.

1823

‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc.

queer skin (n.)

see skin n.¹ (1a)

Queer Street (n.)

see separate entry.

queer thimble (n.) [thimble n.]

(UK Und.) a watch of no value.

1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1821		Flash Dict.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

queer timber (n.)

a wooden leg.

1794

Sporting Mag. Jan. III 202/2: No sparring tomorrow, Duke, I’m down upon the queer timber.

queer tol (n.) [tol n.¹]

a brass or steel- (rather than silver-) hilted sword.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: A Queer-tol, c. a Brass or Steel-hilted or ord’nary Sword.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].

queer topping (n.)

(UK Und.) a second-rate or worn-out wig.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Queere-topping sorry Commodes or Head-dresses.
1725		New Canting Dict. n.p.: queer-topping sorry Head-dresses.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. 1725].

queer ’un (n.)

a black eye.

1828

‘A Flat Enlightened’ Life in the West II 89: [The punch] told slightly over his left ogle. Had it been a determined blow, there must have been a pair of queerens for him .

queer vinegar (n.) [vinegar n. (1)]

(UK Und.) a worn-out woman’s cloak.

1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1821		Flash Dict.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

queer wedge (n.) [wedge n.¹ (1)]

1. a large belt or shoe buckle.

1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (3rd edn).
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

2. pointed shoes.

c.1800

‘Tom the Drover’ No. 30 Papers of Francis Place (1819) n.p.: She pads the hoof up and down, and with a beaver castor she goes, / With an India man about her squeeze, and the queer wedges down to her toes.

3. adulterated gold or silver.

1848

Ladies’ Repository (N.Y.) Oct. VIII:37 316/2: Queer Wedge, counterfeited silver money.

Meaning fraudulent

In compounds

queer bail (n.)

fraudulent bail.

1781		Belle’s Stratagem 15: May I never pluck another cull, if I don’t make Sir Robert Petres [...] take you into immediate custody — and I’ll take care you shan’t tip me any of your queer bail.
1781		G. Parker View of Society II 20: Queer Bail [...] What security can there be in a situation of affairs where the hardiness of a villain, who never was worth a thousand farthings, will swear himself worth a thousand pounds, to become bail for a person who has no intention of payment?
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Queer bail. Insolvent sharpers, who make a profession of bailing persons arrested: they are generally styled Jew bail, from that branch of business being chiefly carried on by the sons of Judah. The lowest sort of these, [...] borrow or hire clothes to appear in [...] (cant).
1802		Sporting Mag. Sept. XX 313/2: If there should be a rumption, I fear some would be at a loss for queer bail at this time o’night.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc.
1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 79: QUEER BAIL, worthless persons who for a consideration would stand bail for any one in court.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict. [as cit. 1859].
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 63: Queer Bail, straw bail, equivalent to worthless securities.

queer beer (n.)

(US) ‘near beer’, beer with a low alcohol content.

1993–2003

joe on Urban Dict. 🌐 queer beer a beverage that mostly women prefer but is not bad for me to enjoy eg. woodys ice, smirnof ice Pass the queer beer i’m thirsty.

queer bit (n.) [bit n.¹ (1a)]

counterfeit money.

1781		G. Parker View of Society II 27: The Queer Bit-Maker, like other industrious men, took orders for [...] fifty pounds-worth of Neds and Half Neds, and would sell you a yard of Queer-Bit, with the same facility as that a Publican sells a quart.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 11: Bitt—money. Queer bitt, bad; rum bit, good or passable money.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
c.1850		Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict. n.p.: Bit-queerems base coin.

queer bit-maker (n.)

(UK Und.) a coiner, a counterfeiter.

1781		G. Parker View of Society II 26: Custom had made Coining such a property of ease and safety [...] that the Queer Bit-Maker, like other industrious men, took orders for a barrel of counterfeit half-pence.
a.1790		H.T. Potter New Dict. Cant (1795).
1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (3rd edn).
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 63: Queer Bit-makers, coiners.
1901		Argus (Melbourne) 20 Sept. 6/4: The man who makes [counterfeit money] is a bit faker, a queer bit-maker, a queer cole maker, while if his talent takes the form of colouring shillings to pass as sovereigns he is a varnisher .
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 318: Queer birds (rogues released from prison), and queer bit-makers (counterfeiters).

queer blunt (n.) [blunt n.¹]

(UK Und.) counterfeit money.

1753		J. Poulter Discoveries (1774) 42: I am passing quare Blunt; putting off bad Money.
1786		Whole Art of Thieving .

queer cole (n.) (also quer cole) [cole n. (1) + -fencer sfx]

(UK Und.) counterfeit money; thus queer cole fencer, the distributor of counterfeit money; queer cole maker, a counterfeiter.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Queere cole, c. Clipt, Counterfeit, or Brass Money. Queer cole maker, c. a false-Coryner. Queere-cole-fencer, a Receiver and putter off of false Money.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1741		Canting Academy, or the Pedlar’s-French Dict. 116: Naughty Money Quer Cole.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Queer cole fencer. A putter off, or utterer, of bad money. Queer cole maker. A maker of bad money.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785].
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. 26: Queer cole makers – coiners of bad money.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum 71: queer cole maker One who makes bad money.
1872		G.P. Burnham Memoirs of the US Secret Service 80: Spose you put me to the ‘queer cole maker’ himself.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 63: Queer Cole Fencer, a fellow who passes bad money [...] Queer Cole Maker, a coiner.
1901		Argus (Melbourne) 20 Sept. 6/4: The man who makes [counterfeit money] is a bit faker, a queer bit-maker, a queer cole maker, while if his talent takes the form of colouring shillings to pass as sovereigns he is a varnisher .

queer lambs (n.) [lamb n.²]

(UK Und.) false dice.

a.1790		H.T. Potter New Dict. Cant (1795).
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1821		Flash Dict.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

queer lark (n.)

(UK und.) coining, counterfeiting.

1935

Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks 1: At the queer lark: [...] Coining.

queer money (n.)

(UK Und.) counterfeit money.

1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc.
1959		E. De Roo Young Wolves 127: Watch your step, Buster, if you got anything to do with passing queer money.

queer paper (n.)

1. counterfeit paper money.

1862

Thackeray Adventures of Philip (1899) 137: We’ve seen his name – the old man’s – on some very queer paper, says B. with a wink to J.

2. in fig. use, something dubious, unreliable.

1880		E.J. Milliken ‘Cad’s Calendar’ in Punch Almanack n.p.: Werry much enjoyed my autumn Caper, / But three quid fifteen do look queer paper.
1887		‘’Arry on His Critics’ in Punch 17 Dec. 280/2: Marriage is orful queer paper; it’s fatal, dear boy, as you say.
1890		‘’Arry’s Visit to the Moon’ in Punch Christmas Number in P. Marks (2006) 166: ‘Queer paper, my dear Miss Dianner,’ sez I.

queer rag (n.) [rag n.¹ (1a)]

(UK Und.) counterfeit money.

1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant n.p.: Queer rag bad farthing.
1821		Flash Dict.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. [as cit. 1809].
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

queer ridge (n.) [ridge n. (1)]

(US Und.) counterfeited gold coins.

1848

Ladies’ Repository (N.Y.) Oct. VIII:37 316/2: Queer Ridge, counterfeited gold money.

queer screens (n.) [screen n.¹]

(UK Und.) forged banknotes.

1811		Lex. Balatronicum n.p.: Queer screens; forged bank notes. The cove was twisted for smashing queer screens; the fellow was hanged for uttering forged bank notes.
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1830		Lytton Paul Clifford III 128: I say, has you heard as how Bill Fang went to Scratch land (Scotland) and was stretched for smashing queer screens? (that is, hung for uttering forged notes).
1834		(con. 1737–9) W.H. Ainsworth Rookwood (1857) 178: Readily the queer screens I then could smash.
1848		G.W.M. Reynolds Mysteries of London II (2nd series) 362: These are all queer screens – and you went into the bank to smash some of them.
1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1869		J. Greenwood Seven Curses of London 89: Forged bank notes – queerscreens.
1871–82		B.M. Carew Life and Adventures.
1881		Newcastle Courant 2 Sept. 6/5: In an evil moment he had made a ‘queer screen’ and ‘smashed it’.
1935		R.T. Hopkins Life and Death at the Old Bailey 64: The following crook’s words and phrases date from the days of the old Old Bailey: [...] forged bank-notes – queer screens.

queer soft (n.) [soft money n. (1)]

counterfeit notes.

1822		Egan Life and Adventures of Samuel Hayward 31: His departure was accompanied with a gentle hint that he had been putting off his queer soft* [*Forged Bank notes].
1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn).
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 63: Queer Softs, bad notes.

queer stuff (n.)

see queer n. (2)

queer tats (n.) [tats n. (1)]

(UK Und.) false dice.

a.1790		H.T. Potter New Dict. Cant (1795) n.p.: tatts, or lambs queer false dice.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1821		Flash Dict.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

In phrases

on the queer

acting dishonestly.

1917		E. O’Neill In the Zone (1923) 12: I seen right away somethin’ on the queer was up.
1937–84		Partridge DSUE (1984) 947: [...] C.20.

Meaning homosexual

In compounds

queer-faced (adj.)

a general pej.; lit. ‘looking like a homosexual’.

2001

‘Lord Stanley’ ‘Dragon Mountain’ on woohoolio 16 Aug. 🌐 You mater of queer-faced bulls!, you dare interrupt me?!

queer street (n.) [pun on Queer Street n.]

(US) the world of homosexuality.

1965

C. Brown Manchild in the Promised Land (1969) 212: I think I was cut out to walk queer street all my life.

In phrases

queer as... (adj.)

see separate entry.

SE, meaning odd/eccentric, in slang uses

In compounds

queer bird (n.)

1. an odd, eccentric person.

1898		H.H. Lewis A Gunner Aboard the ‘Yankee’ 9: Uncle Sam is a queer bird.
1926		O.O. McIntyre New York Day by Day 7 Mar. [synd. col.] I have found [...] some queer birds in our family tree.
1932		G. Storm ‘Bobby Thatcher’ [comic strip] I’ve known some queer birds in my time, but I can’t make the professor out.
1950		C. Harris Three-Ha’Pence to the Angel 46: Queer birds all foreigners.
1965		W. Dick Bunch of Ratbags 22: Another queer bird was Mrs Cash.
1966		M. Rumaker Exit 3 and Other Stories 60: Billy’s a queer bird all right.

2. (US gay) a heterosexual who dabbles in homosexuality.

1965

K. Worthy Homosexual Generation Ch. xvi: A Queer Bird: One who enjoys an occasional homosexual romp but is mostly heterosexual.

3. see also sl. compounds above.

queer bitch (n.) [ bitch n.¹ (3a); despite appearances, there is no hint of homosexuality]

‘an odd out of the way fellow’ (Grose 1785).

1772		Bridges Burlesque Homer (3rd edn) 59: thyestes died exceeding rich, / And left his staff to this queer bitch. [Ibid.] 413: You must give Jove a little credit; / He’s a queer bitch, but altogether / He best can rule both wind and weather.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1825		Egan Life of an Actor 47: Oh, the ma-na-ger in—he is a queer bitch, I dare say—we shall have some fun, my lady.

queer card (n.) [card n.² (2)]

an odd, eccentric person.

1864		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1865		H. Kingsley Hillyars and Burtons (1870) 81: You’re a queer card to venture within a mile of a police-station.
1877		in Punch 13 Oct. 161/1: A meeting for the Abolition of Trial by Jury was held on Monday evening [...] Mr. Spouter, Q.C. (Queer Card) occupying the Chair.
1879		H. Hartigan Stray Leaves (2nd ser.) 298: ‘[G]ive us your reminiscences of a queer card or two’.

queer customer (n.) (also queer merchant) [SE customer/merchant n.]

an odd or eccentric person.

1827		Pierce Egan’s Life in London 11 Mar. 885/1: [Q]ueer Customers, Rum fellows, Flash kids, Downy Ones, Up-to-Snuff-Chaps, Blades ripe for any thing.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open 128: Tarter [sic], a queer customer, a powerful enemy.
1850		L.W. Garrard Wah-to-yah and the Taos Trail 62: The visitors, thinking me a queer customer [...] ‘a fool’— as they were pleased to demoninate me.
1864		E. Yates Broken to Harness II 297: ‘That’s a queer customer,’ said Kate [...] ‘A very queer customer.’.
1873		W.H. Thomes Bushrangers 225: Murden winked at me, as much as to say, ‘We have a queer customer here.’.
1886		R.L. Stevenson Kidnapped 155: They’re queer customers, the Appin Stewarts.
1898		Grantham Jrnl 30 Apr. 4/5: He said there was ‘a queer customer’ in the grounds, and there was likely to be some trouble.
1906		C. M’Govern Sarjint Larry an’ Frinds 56: It is a godalmighty queer customer dis deserter stranger is.
1937		News (Frederick, MD) 3 Sept. 11/2: That’s a queer little customer yonder in the gray suit.

queer fellow (n.)

1. an odd, eccentric person.

1712		Spectator No. 474 n.p.: I beg you would publish this letter, and let me be known all at once for a queer fellow, and avoided [F&H].
1883		J. Keane On Blue Water 206: You know the ‘queer fellow'’(I knew he meant our other watch-mate).
1914		Chuckles 10 Jan. 1: Here, vot’s dot queer fellow-looking man taking mine dog avay for?
1936		J. Curtis Gilt Kid 60: He’d a good mind to tear over and spoil her lark with the queer fellow.
1989		H. Leonard Out After Dark 2: ‘I hear tell that the queer fella’ (myself) ‘has writ a play about yous.’.

2. a prisoner condemned to hang [ref. to Brendan Behan play The Quare Fellow].

1989

J. Morton Lowspeak.

queer fish (n.) [fish n.¹ (5)]

an odd or eccentric person.

1772		Bridges Burlesque Homer (3rd edn) 103: Gods are queer fish as well as men.
1795		Sporting Mag. May VI 115/1: Odd fish, queer fish, strange fish, droll fish, / In short they be fish out of water.
1848		Bartlett Dict. Americanisms.
1852		Bell’s Life in Sydney 5 June 3/2: Old Spratt was a queer fish.
1859		G.A. Sala Twice Round the Clock 24: What a queer fish Mr. Taylor must have been!
1862		Thackeray Adventures of Philip (1899) 101: Was it to show me a queer fish that you took me to Dr. Firmin’s house in Parr Street?
1875		F.H. Sheppard Love Afloat 55: I shouldn’t care to be shown off as a queer fish.
1882		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 1 Apr. 2/2: Oscar Wilde [...] is a very verdant young man, and has been played for a sucker and a queer fish.
1888		R. Barnett Police Sergeant C 21 62: Our wisitors ’appens to be all English, barring one perhaps, and he’s a queer fish.
1896		H. Frederic Damnation of Theron Ware 40: The Methodists [...] looked upon him as a queer fish.
1901		B. Pain De Omnibus 106: You may tike my word fur it, we ’as some queer fish on thet lawst ’bus.
1908		Bulletin (Sydney) 20 Aug. 44/1: [T]he ‘next doors’ were, in the vocabulary of Ring’s Alley, ‘queer fish,’ and might kick over the traces at any moment.
1928		R. Hall Well of Loneliness (1976) 20: Did you ever know such a queer fish as she is?
1930		K.S. Prichard Haxby’s Circus 64: ‘Queer fish,’ Heathcote exclaimed.
1935		A. Christie Three Act Tragedy (1964) 139: He’s a queer fish. Bit of a bad lot, if you ask me.
1949		H. Miller Sexus (1969) 193: He’s taken a fancy to you Hindus because you’re queer fish, see?
1964		F. Sargeson ‘Man of Good Will’ in Coll. Stories (1965) 135: He wasn’t the sort of man to approve of queer fish.

queer gum (n.) [gum n.¹ (1)]

(UK Und.) strange talk.

1848

Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

queer hawk (n.) (also quare harp, quare hawk, queer harp) [SE queer/quare adj. (1) + ? harp n.¹ (3) or fig. use of the harp as a symbolic Irish artefact, thus person]

(Irish) an odd person.

1919		H. MacGrath Yellow Typhoon 13: You’re a queer hawk. I don’t suppose there’s a man on earth you really care for.
1943		R. Llewellyn None But the Lonely Heart 199: Proper queer hawk, you are.
1953		H. Tracy Mind You, I’ve Said Nothing (1961) 150: I’m a queer old hawk, am I not?
1969		P. Boyle All Looks Yellow to the Jaundiced Eye 52: A different class of a character altogether you’d find using a public convenience during a slack period. Queer-hawks of one sort or another.
1973		(con. mid-1960s) J. Patrick Glasgow Gang Observed 51: To avoid being considered ‘a queer hawk’ or a ‘bent-shot’ (homosexual), I had to chip in to the conversation.
1979		H. Leonard A Life (1981) Act I: God, Dezzie, you’re a queer harp.
1989		H. Leonard Out After Dark 16: God, he said, almost rubbing his hands with excitement, was a queer harp.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak 118: Queer-hawk (Glas.) – sometimes used of a homosexual but more usually a mental case.
1996		(con. 1970) G. Moxley Danti-Dan in McGuinness Dazzling Dark (1996) I iv: She’s a queer hawk that one. Jesus.
2001		G. Coughlan Everyday Eng. and Sl. 🌐 Quare hawk (n): odd fella.

queer house (n.)

(US) an asylum.

1855

Life in Boston & N.Y. (Boston, MA) 14 Apr. n.p.: Has Heo. Hayes taken our advice and gone to work, instead of making his wife live in a ‘queer house’ [...] What makes him pretend to be crazy?

queer put (n.) (also queer putt) [put n.¹]

an odd simple person.

1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant n.p.: queer putt an ill-looking foolish fellow.
1821		Flash Dict.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

queer start (n.) [start n.¹]

a strange affair, an odd situation.

1866

London Misc. 5 May, 202: I don’t think I told you all the business. A precious queer start it was [F&H].

queer stick (n.) [stick n. (2a)]

an odd person, an eccentric.

1798		‘Answer to Captain Morris’ in Hilaria 74: In the streets oft you meet a queer stick of a fellow, / Who pokes in your eye his sharp-pointed umbrella.
1839		Globe (London) 30 Oct. 1/3: [advert for Blackwood’s mag.] CONTENTS. I. On the present Position of the Church of Scotland, Part I II. Hermotimus-III. Goethe’s Life and Works. No. II IV. The Queer Stick.
1847		Kentish Indep. 15 May 7/2: Verily the Dartfordians are queer sticks.
1858		Burnley Advertiser 5 June 3/2: We let him preach on till he was run down, knowing him to be a queer stick himself, and having no intention to furnish our readers with any of his remarks, however striking.
1864		letter in Framlingham Wkly News (Suffolk) 5 Mar. 1/7: Hope I don't intrude.—Have just popp’d into your town to see how you do. Calcu late you have some rather queer sticks amongst you.
1871		Isle of Wight Times 9 Feb. 2/7: I am what you may call a queer stick, and I have a curious habit of jotting down in my pocket-hook my personal views of men.
1880		Shields Dly Gaz. 21 June 2/4: Coutts, was, in familiar parlance, a queer stick. He had all the eccentricity of his family and none of its goodness.
1890		Sheffield Dly Teleg. 6 June 4: There are some queer sticks among the planks for the teetotal platform in Hyde Park.
1950		C. Harris Three-Ha’Pence to the Angel 64: Ah, queer stick [...] Queer stick. I don’t know what to make of him.

Queer Street (n.)

see separate entry.

queer stuff (n.)

1. (S.Afr.) methylated spirits.

1949

H.C. Bosman Cold Stone Jug (1981) II 28: They also spoke of it as ‘the weed’, or ‘the herb’, or ‘the queer stuff’ (although this latter appellation is more usually applied to methylated spirits).

2. see old queer under old adj.

In phrases

queer about the gills (adj.)

see green about the gills under gills n.¹

queer as...

see separate entry.

queer in the attic (adj.) [attic n. (1)]

1. mad and/or drunk.

1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc.
1824		J. Wight Mornings in Bow St. 97: [A]nd, though it was scarcely noon, he was rather queer in the attic; that is to say, not exactly sober.
1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict. 68: ‘Queer in the attic,’ intoxicated.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict 4: Attic, the head, ‘queer in the attic’; drunk or crazy.

2. mentally unstable.

1920

Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 14 July 7/4: [A] slip and heavy faII [...] knocking the bark off his forehead, and the senses out of his head. The marks still showed after nine days, and he still felt queer in the attic.

queer in the garret (adj.) (also queer in the upper storey) [garret n. (1)/upper storey under upper adj.]

eccentric, mad.

a.1790

C. Dibdin ‘What thof I be a Country Clown’ in Collection of Songs I 224: I think as he’s a little queer / Poor soul in the upper storey.

queer in the nut (adj.) [nut n.¹ (1b)]

mad, eccentric.

1955

D. Niland Shiralee 163: Whatever type he was he was queer in the nut.