light in the loafers

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English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

US, 1967.[1][2]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • Audio (AU)(file)

Adjective[edit]

light in the loafers (comparative more light in the loafers, superlative most light in the loafers)

  1. (idiomatic, slang, derogatory, euphemistic) Gay; homosexual.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:homosexual
    • 1980, Helen Van Slyke, No Love Lost, New York: Lippincott & Crowell, page 203:
      Men of my group are either married or, as S.P. would say, ‘light in the loafers.’ Homosexuals, you'd call them.
    • 1981, Heywood Gould, Glitterburn, New York: St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 98:
      You'll make a nice living; and maybe when you're sixty you'll marry a nice guy, a little light in the loafers maybe, but you'll still be pure by then; and you'll do the grand-lady bit, and he’ll be your escort.
    • 2007, Lesley Kagen, Whistling In the Dark‎[1], Penguin, →ISBN:
      “What about Father Jim and Mr. Gary?” Mary Lane said, passing by me, “They are light in the loafers together.”
  2. (idiomatic, slang, derogatory, dated, obsolete) Crazy or eccentric.

Translations[edit]

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References[edit]

  1. ^ Eric Partridge (2007) “light in the loafers”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, Abingdon, Oxon., New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 400.
  2. ^ Jonathon Green (2024) “light in the loafers adj.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang
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