Green’s Dictionary of Slang

chemise-lifter n.

[? a nonce-coinage by the Australian writer and comedian Barry Humphries (b.1934), playing on the widely used synon. shirtlifter under shirt n.]

1. a male homosexual.

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[Aus]B. Humphries Nice Night’s Entertainment (1981) gloss.

2. a lesbian [suggests the ‘female’ chemise vs. the ‘male’ shirt].

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[UK]K. Lette Mad Cows 88: Maddy watched the chemise-lifter execute her caricatured saunter out of the frame and back to her cell.