fag n.4
1. (orig. US) a male homosexual; thus fag-bait, one who is an object of homosexual desire.
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Medical Rev. of Reviews in Gay/Lesbian Almanac (1983) 401: Does the ‘fairy’ or ‘fag’ really exist? | |
| Cop Remembers 53: Don’t think for one moment that some of those fags can’t put up a battle. | |
| letter 13 Sept. in Charters I (1995) 127: One night I pulled it [i.e. a gun] out on a fag and told him I was ‘Nanny-Beater Kelly’ from Chicago. | |
| Junkie (1966) 60: What a crew! Mooches, fags, fourflushers, stool pigeons, bums – unwilling to work, unable to steal, always short of money, always whining for credit. | |
| Men from the Boys (1967) 24: He was always reading, and was probably a fag – went around with the Village artists. | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Old Liberty (1962) 7: This guy was a little faggio. | |
| Howard Street 48: Next to Franchot were a fag and a Puerto Rican, who obviously thought the fag was a real woman. | |
| Shaft 14: Two fags walked by, heading towards the men’s rooms. | |
| Hot to Trot 17: He wears no underwear under those hip huggers. Bum-boy. Fag-bait. | |
| Decadence in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 12: Some poor small frightened fag / protect him and you’ve got his bum for life. | |
| Homeboy 34: Louie stared after him, marveling that it must be true, fags could outsuck any broad. | |
| Get Your Cock Out 33: Sat in a darkened alcove with his court of mincing fags, chicken hawks and their little chicks all buggering and fellating away. | |
| Compression Scars 8: They call Duncan fag-bait and say, ‘Bend over, Joy Boy, I’ll drive’. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Broken Shore (2007) [ebook] Michael the fag. Did his mother know Michael was queer? | |
| Intelligent Life Spring 97/2: Right-wing bloggers said he was a ‘shrieking fag’. | |
| Life 134: They don’t realize that [Little] Richard is a screaming fag. | |
| Finders Keepers (2016) 110: Tell anyone I’m a fag and I’ll fucking kill you. | |
| ‘The Truth’ 🎵 Gwopz is a fucking nerd and his older brother's a fucking fag. | |
| ‘Broken’ in Broken 7: ‘Just my luck [...] getting a fag for a brother’. |
2. (US campus/teen) an offensive or unpopular person.
| ‘Gang Delinquency’ in Short Gang Delinquency and Delinquent Subcultures (1968) 141: The use of the local term for ‘homosexual’ as a generalized pejorative epithet (e.g., higher class individuals or upwardly mobile peers are frequently characterized as ‘fags’ or ‘queers’). | |
| Third Ear n.p.: fagn. […] 2. a person who is unpopular. | |
| Campus Sl. Mar. | |
 | (con. 1980s) i80s.com 🌐 fag gay, queer. This term for the most part, was not meant to describe homosexuals or homosexuality. | |
| Guardian 29 July 32/2: It is a mistake to to class words such as ‘bender,’ ‘fag,’ ‘poofter’and ‘shirtlifter’ as euphemisms. In the 1950s and 60s they were usually vicious terms of abuse. |
In derivatives
(US) homosexual in manner.
| Junkie (1966) 84: He didn’t come on faggish. |
(US gay) gay slang.
| Queens’ Vernacular. | |
| Gay (S)language. |
(US) a male homosexual; also attrib.
| letter 27 Aug. in Selected Letters (2014) 174: The word faggola [...] is a very [common] word in American slang. It comes from fag which is an ugly word for homosexual [...] a very crude and yet fancy diminutive for fag. | |
| Queens’ Vernacular 73: stereotype effeminate homosexual [...] feigele (fr Yid = birdie), variant spelling fagola. | |
| Flesh and Blood (1978) 26: They gonna come on strong, the Fagola Army, and try and make you a jailhouse punk. | |
| It (1987) 32: He would probably call Springsteen a wimp or a fagola. |
In compounds
(US/UK black) a black homosexual person, usu. male.
| Urban Dict. 🌐 Fagamuffin “Fag-a-muff-in” An insult used people of great disrespect. You are a bloody Faggamuffin! |
(US) to beat up and rob a homosexual.
| Union Dues (1978) 290: You’re big and bad enough you can play them along and get them alone and pow! There’s a couple of dudes around making a living from fag-bagging. |
1. an ostensibly heterosexual man who specializes in beating and terrorizing gay men, thus v. fag-bash.
| Silence of the Lambs (1991) 309: He’s a fag-basher. Had a couple of scrapes in Harrisburg. | |
| My Country, My Right to Serve 32: The man that killed him was probably what we would call a modern-day fag-basher. | |
| Prayers for Rain 182: ‘What’re you, gay?’ ‘You bet,’ I said. ‘Come on back and fag-bash me’. | |
| waxbanks.typepad.com 18 Apr. [blog] One of the accused is a convicted fag-basher. | |
| Twitter 7 Aug. 🌐 If the state can't protect gay inmates against f*g bashers then don't incarcerate them. |
2. any anti-gay spokesperson.
| Guardian G2 4 Aug. 17: Maybe she was too gay [...] for unvarnished bigots and fag-bashers. |
1. the beating up of male homosexuals; also attrib.
| View from a Window 242: In most American states, a criminal, fag-bashing is bound to be popular. | |
| Maledicta IX 145: He may even turn someone out or put the boot in while indulging in a fit of fag-bashing. | |
![[Can]](/static/img/flags/can.png "Canada") | Without Conscience 39: Oh, yeah, I’ve been fag-bashing since I was fourteen—but I don’t do anything bad, like beating women or children. | |
| (con. 1980s) i80s.com 🌐 fag bashing Beating up homosexual or gay people for the fun of it. | |
| Bad Boy Boogie [ebook] ‘She had to be real careful not to call ’em gay though, or they’d beat her worse than any fag-bashing son of a bitch ever did’. |
2. in fig. use, any anti-gay behaviour or speech.
| diary 25 Sept. Smiling in Slow Motion (2000) 226: We could expect the Tories to go in for more fag-bashing. |
see separate entries.
(gay) cheap pornography aimed at the male homosexual readership.
| Maledicta III:2 244: Marcel Proust’s classic if closet [...] fag hot (homosexual novel). |
a bar frequented by homosexuals.
| Widespread Panic 306: ‘It’s a bookie joint by day and a fag joint by night’. |
(US black) smart casual clothing.
| Central Sl. 22: fag rags An expression used by a thug to distinguish his casual dress up clothes from his gang banger or hoodlum type dress. ‘Ain’t bangin’, got these fag rags on tonight.’. |
(US carnival) a carnival show featuring men in women’s dress.
| Hey, Sucker 97: fag show [...] show with men who impersonate women. |
(US) a heterosexual male who enjoys the company of homosexual men.
| Alt. Eng. Dict. 🌐 fag stag (noun) heterosexual male who enjoys the company of homosexual males. |
(US campus) the small loop (ostensibly for hanging the shirt when no hanger is available) on the upper back of many shirts; such a loop, supposedly, can be used to hold a victim ready for buggery.
| Official Preppie Hbk 219: Fag tag n. The loop on top of the back pleat on a button-down shirt. | |
| Z-Link 30 Oct.–1 Nov. 🌐 Elsie’s Lunch [...] Private club, but they won’t check if your fag tag’s in the right place. Major St. Grotlesex crowd here – you won’t have to worry that he’s N.O.C.D. | |
| Calif. Purples 34: But the fashion highlight was a blue/green Madras three button pullover shirt from Varsity Imports over on Westwood Boulevard – the kind with the ‘fag-tag’. | |
| (con. 1980s) i80s.com 🌐 fag tag The little loop on the back of your polo shirt. |
(US) cologne.
| Maledicta IX 161: U.S. gays sometimes confuse pissy with prissy (‘that pissy queen in Bloomingdale’s sampling fag water,’ i.e. cologne). |
In phrases
(US prison) pretending sexual interest in another inmate; the aim is to annoy a third party.
| Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 Fag Role: Acting as if one was sexually interested in another inmate, as in ‘playing the fag role.’ This is usually done in order to tease or provoke a peer. |