member n.2
1. a fellow, a chap; usu. with adj. e.g. hot member.
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | letter 3 Jan. in Longacre From Antietam to Fort Fisher (1985) 99: Of the dissentions among the soldiers the most savage come from the abuse of recruits by ‘old members’ [...] The ‘old men’ are ‘patriots’ who sprang forward at the first call of the Government. | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Sporting Life 28 Mar. n.p.: Accordingly Jem was put to work, but, warm a member as our hero was, standing in front of a blazing furnace for hours [...] was too hot even for Jem’s sanguinary temperament [F&H]. | |
| Five Thousand an Hour Ch. xvii: By the way, I owe my poker guests to Johnny Gamble [...] He’s a live member! Did I ever tell you how he helped me skin old Mort Washer? | |
| Dict. Amer. Sl. |
2. (US black, also club member) a fellow black person.
| N.Y. Times Mag. 20 May 45: member: a Negro. | |
| ‘The Winds of Change’ in Clarke Harlem, USA (1971) 321: But this member — daddy, she was a real fox! | |
| ‘Vocab. of race’ in Kochman Rappin’ and Stylin’ Out 149: Club member or Member. Also connotes the kinship or ‘all-in-it-together’ aspect of being black in white America. The label is complimentary because the struggle against white racism is viewed favorably by black people. To recognize another black as a ‘club member’ or ‘member’ is to recognize that black person’s membership in the group which is waging a noble struggle. | |
| Runnin’ Down Some Lines 246: member Another black person. |
3. (US gay) a fellow homosexual.
| Queens’ Vernacular 133: member (kwn LV, mid-late ’60s, fr sl clubhouse = toilet. room) a fellow gay. |
In phrases
one who is suffering from a harsh, persistent cough (cf. have been to Barking creek under Barking creek n.).
| Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: Barkshire member, or a Candidate to represent the county of Barkshire, any one Troubled with a Cough, ludicrously stiled Barking. | |
| , | | Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn) n.p.: Barkshire. A member or candidate for Barkshire, said of one troubled with a cough, vulgarly styled barking. |
| Lex. Balatronicum. | |
| Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue. |
the trout.
 | Two Treatises on Angling & Shooting 220: You are acting the part of an obstructive, by preventing the Member for Finsbury from visiting his Constituents. | |
| Sporting Gaz. (London) 19 Jan. 14/2: The ‘member for Finsbury,’ as this author, with the detestable slang [...] calls the trout. |
(US gay) a member of the homosexual community.
| Queer Sl. in the Gay 90s 🌐 Member of the Union – Gay or lesbian person. |