Green’s Dictionary of Slang

cruise n.

[cruise v. (1)]

1. (usu. gay) the search for a sexual partner, usu. focussed on known pick-up areas, e.g. a park, a beach, etc.

[US]‘R. Scully’ A Scarlet Pansy 165: As soon as the college examinations were finished, Fay [...] set out on a summer tour to include the Pacific Coast and as much as possible of that which lay between it and New York. ‘My grand cruise,’ Fay styled it.
[UK]Socxial Problems 106/2: The major form of establishing contact is the ‘cruise’, with the fellator passing ‘queer-corners’ or locations until his effort is recognized by one of the boys [Simes:DLSS].
[Aus]J. Rose At the Cross 55: ‘Bella said ‘Go on, forget it for tonight, go out and have a good old cruise’ [Simes:DLSS].
[US]‘R. Cummings’ Suck Slave 12: I wasn’t on the cruise in the basement. I didn’t know what the word meant [Simes:DLSS].
[UK]P. Robins Our Hero has Bad Breath 98: It was around then I changed my job and my apartment, too, but not my habit of an occasional cruise around the Cross [Simes:DLSS].
S. Payne Beat 99: Prissie was off. Maybe for a cruise, maybe just to get out of the house [Simes:DLSS].

2. (US Und.) a male homosexual who picks up partners on the street.

[US]Goldin et al. DAUL 53/1: Cruise, n. (West and Pacific Coast) A male oral sodomist who makes street pickups. ‘That cruise we robbed looked like a bum but he went for four C’s (four hundred dollars) on the shake (extortion).’.
[US]‘M. Booton’ Tearoom Dangler 165: It is dark heresy to admit that a subway cruise, finally borne intact to a hotel room, is a better lay than a star bargain from a King’s Cross pub [Simes:DLSS].

3. (gay) a quick glance that assesses a passing individual in sexual terms.

[UK]J. Herbert Herbert Fortune & Men’s Eyes 15: [no text] [Simes:DLSS].
[US]R. Price Ladies’ Man (1985) 240: Donny gave me a shot in the ribs. ‘Your first cruise’. [Ibid.] 243: Most of the guys passing gave him a heavy cruise.
OutRage Dec. 46/2: Now we have a total cruise, no disguises and no hiding.
[US]C. Bram Surprising Myself 207: [H]is eyes snapped back at me. He stared. It was more a stare than a cruise, but everyone had their own style [Simes:DLSS].
[UK]Guardian Guide 31 July–6 Aug. 93: Were you or were you not on a gay cruise?