"gunsel" meaning in English

See gunsel in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈɡʌnsəl/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-gunsel.wav Forms: gunsels [plural]
Etymology: From Yiddish גענדזל (gendzl, “gosling”), from Middle High German gensel, diminutive of gans (“goose”). Etymology templates: {{der|en|yi|גענדזל|t=gosling}} Yiddish גענדזל (gendzl, “gosling”), {{der|en|gmh|gensel}} Middle High German gensel Head templates: {{en-noun}} gunsel (plural gunsels)
  1. (slang, dated) Synonym of catamite: a young man kept by an elder as a (usually passive) homosexual partner. Tags: dated, slang Categories (topical): LGBTQ, People Synonyms: catamite [synonym, synonym-of]
    Sense id: en-gunsel-en-noun-vVBt-qFz Disambiguation of LGBTQ: 51 22 14 13 Disambiguation of People: 55 18 3 24 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 37 21 32 11 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 35 26 24 15 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 34 22 29 15
  2. (slang, dated) Synonym of bottom: a passive partner in a male homosexual relationship. Tags: dated, slang Synonyms: bottom [synonym, synonym-of]
    Sense id: en-gunsel-en-noun-CORMzZ27 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 37 21 32 11 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 34 22 29 15
  3. (prison slang, dated) Synonym of bitch: a man forced or coerced into a homosexual relationship. Tags: dated, slang Synonyms: bitch [synonym, synonym-of]
    Sense id: en-gunsel-en-noun-ZLiZ-7Ux Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 37 21 32 11 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 34 22 29 15
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: male homosexual
Etymology number: 1

Noun

IPA: /ˈɡʌnsəl/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-gunsel.wav Forms: gunsels [plural]
Etymology: By misunderstanding of the 1929 Maltese Falcon quotation above (which survived in a popular 1941 film adaptation). The novel was originally serialized in a magazine, Black Mask, whose editor refused to allow vulgarities. Hammett used the word gunsel knowing that the editor would likely misunderstand it as relating to gun, and therefore allow it. Head templates: {{en-noun}} gunsel (plural gunsels)
  1. A gun-carrying hoodlum or other criminal. Related terms: gunzel
    Sense id: en-gunsel-en-noun-ms6xKNz2 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 37 21 32 11 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 34 22 29 15
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

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          "ref": "1944, Brett Halliday, Murder and the Married Virgin, →ISBN:",
          "text": "The two gunsels waited for him on each side of the doorway, gun-hands bulging in their coat pockets.",
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        "A gun-carrying hoodlum or other criminal."
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}

Download raw JSONL data for gunsel meaning in English (5.4kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (f889f65 and 8fbd9e8). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.