gunsel
Synonym of catamite: a young man kept by an elder as a homosexual partnerSynonym of catamite: a young man kept by an elder as a (usually passive) homosexual partner.
Meaning
4 senses(dated, slang)Synonym of catamite: a young man kept by an elder as a (usually passive) homosexual partner.
(dated, slang)Synonym of bottom: a passive partner in a male homosexual relationship.
(dated, slang)Synonym of bitch: a man forced or coerced into a homosexual relationship.
A gun-carrying hoodlum or other criminal.
Origin
From Yiddish גענדזל (gendzl, “gosling”), from Middle High German gensel, diminutive of ganFrom Yiddish גענדזל (gendzl, “gosling”), from Middle High German gensel, diminutive of gans (“goose”).
By misunderstanding of the 1929 Maltese Falcon quotation above (1.1) (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.
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