Gay dog meaning
gay dognoun
There is one interpretation in OED's entry for the noun gay dog. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English
| 1840 | 0.0017 |
| 1850 | 0.002 |
| 1860 | 0.0035 |
| 1870 | 0.0058 |
| 1880 | 0.009 |
| 1890 | 0.015 |
| 1900 | 0.019 |
| 1910 | 0.023 |
| 1920 | 0.026 |
| 1930 | 0.027 |
| 1940 | 0.025 |
| 1950 | 0.023 |
| 1960 | 0.018 |
| 1970 | 0.014 |
| 1980 | 0.011 |
| 1990 | 0.0084 |
| 2000 | 0.0068 |
| 2010 | 0.006 |
The earliest known use of the noun gay dog is in the 1840s.
OED's earliest evidence for gay dog is from 1847, in the writing of Charles Dickens, novelist.
Nearby entries
- gay-bashing, n.1977–
- gaybine, n.1842–66
- gay blade, n.1750–
- gay boy, n.1835–
- gayby boom, n.1990–
- gay cat, n.1893–
- gaydar, n.1986–
- Gay Morning, n.1970–
- gay deceiver, n.1710–
- gaydiang, n.1855–
- gay dog, n.1847–
- gaydom, n.1922–
- gayed, adj.1671
- gayelle, n.1968–
- gayfeather, n.1845–
- gay-friendly, adj.1977–
- gay gene, n.1974–
- gay ghetto, n.1964–
- Gay Gordons, n.1823–
My Dog Has a Gay Tail. What Does This Mean?
Q. At the dog park, someone said my dog had a “gay tail.” I didn’t want to let on that I didn’t comprehend what she meant, so I just nodded. Can you tell me? He’s neutered, by the way.
A. The world of animals is full of curious — and very mature — termsthat describe the way certain animals observe. You ran into someone with a fair amount of canine knowledge, I’d say, possibly someone who has shown her dogs.
The term “gay tail” has nothing to do with your dog’s gender or sexuality, or if he’s neutered or not. It’s “gay” in the instinct of “happy,” and it refers to a tail that’s flying high when the dog is watchful and engaged, such as when he’s playing at the dog park. Specifically, it refers to a tail that’s set a little higher at the point where it connects to the body, allowing the dog to haul it above the topline. If you follow the back, in other words, the tail’s angle departs from the flat line and goes uphill.
In some breeds, a gay tail is considered undesirable in the show ring. If you imagine a Pointer, for example, the line of the back should be continued through the tail, to make the “bird here” point even moredognoun1
Earliest known use
Old English
The earliest known use of the noun dog is in the Old English period (pre-1150).
dog is of unknown origin.
Nearby entries
- doegling, n.1866–
- doek, n.1798–
- doenjang, n.1966–
- doer, n.1382–
- doeskin, n.1457–
- dof, adj.1979–
- doff, n.1606
- doff, v.a1375–
- doffer, n.1825–
- doffing, n.1606–
- dog, n.¹Old English–
- dog, n.²?1550–
- dog, v.¹1519–
- dog, v.²1835–
- dogal, adj.1792–
- dogan, n.1847–
- dogana, n.1605–
- dog and bone, n.1961–
- dog-and-pony, adj. & n.1879–
- dog-and-pony show, n.1885–
- dog-ape, n.a1616–
Of unknown origin.
Origin unknown…
Origin unknown.The word belongs to a set of words of uncertain or phonologically problematic etymology with a stem-final geminated g in Old English which is not due to West Germanic consonant gemination and therefore does not undergo assibilation. These words form both a morphological and a semantic collective, as they are usually Old English weak masculine nouns and denote an
Today I found out how ‘gay’ came to indicate ‘homosexual’.
The word “gay” seems to have its origins around the 12th century in England, derived from the Old French pos ‘gai’, which in change was probably derived from a Germanic word, though that isn’t completely known. The word’s original sense meant something to the effect of “joyful”, “carefree”, “full of mirth”, or “bright and showy”.
However, around the early parts of the 17th century, the word began to be associated with immorality. By the mid 17th century, according to an Oxford dictionary definition at the time, the meaning of the word had changed to mean “addicted to pleasures and dissipations. Often euphemistically: Of loose and immoral life”. This is an extension of one of the original meanings of “carefree”, meaning more or less uninhibited.
Fast-forward to the 19th century and the word gay referred to a woman who was a prostitute and a gay man was someone who slept with a lot of women (ironically enough), often prostitutes. Also at this second, the phrase “gay it” meant t
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