Lesbian

From Latin Lesbius (“Lesbian”) (for further etymology, see Ancient Greek Λέσβος (Lésbos)) + adjective suffix -an, from Latin adjective suffix -anus. The sense of ‘gay woman’ is a reference to Sappho, a famous inhabitant of Lesbos and gay poet.

Lesbian (countable and uncountable, plural Lesbians)

1. (countable) A native or inhabitant of Lesbos.

   Synonyms: Lesvian, (rare) Lesviot, (rare) Lesbosian

2. (linguistics, uncountable) The variety of Aeolic Greek spoken on Lesbos from about 800 to 300 b.c., best known from the writings of Sappho and Alcaeus of Mytilene.
3. (historical) A sweet, mild wine made on Lesbos in ancient times.
   • 1597, John King, Lectures upon Jonas , page 1:

     Our Saviour in the gospel preferreth old wine before new; & Aristotle liketh better of the wine of Lesbos, the the wine of Rhodes; he affirmeth both to be good, but the Lesbian the more pleasant, alluding vnder that parable to the successour of his schoole, and noting his choise rather of Theophrastus borne at Lesbos, then Menedemus at Rhodes.

   • 1775, Edward Barry, Observations, Historical, Critical, and Medical, on the Wines of the Ancients, page 99:

     […] but the best Greek Wines, the Chian, Lesbian, Coan, &c. were equally prepared in the same manner; and we have reason to think that the same process was more generally used, and in preparing some of the best and most generous Italian wines.

   • 1841, William Jacobs, The self-instructing Latin classic, page 187:

     More capacious bowls bring hither, boy, and the Chian wine or the Lesbian : or what might restrain this flowing qualm;

   • 1886, John Ellis, The Wine Question in the Light of the New Dispensation, page 12:

     Horace, born 65 B.C., says that there is no wine sweeter to drink than Lesbian, and that it was perfectly harmless and would not produce intoxication.

4. (countable) Alternative letter-case form of lesbian (“gay woman”).

Lesbian (comparative more Lesbian, superlative most Lesbian)

1. Of or pertaining to the island of Lesbos.

   Synonym: Lesbosian

   • 1805, J. Griffiths, Travels in Europe, Asia Minor, and Arabia‎, London: T. Cadell, page 232:

     Within twenty-four hours of quitting the security of a Lesbian port, all the contrarieties I had experienced were to be exceeded by the horrors of a tremendous hurricane.

2. (linguistics) Of or pertaining to the Lesbian variety of Aeolic Greek.
3. Alternative letter-case form of lesbian (“of women: gay”).
   • 1901, Mary MacLane, edited by Margo Culley, A Day at a Time‎, published 1985:

     Except two breeds—the stupid and the narrowly feline—all women have a touch of the Lesbian: an assertion all good non-analytic creatures refute with horror, but quite true: there is always the poignant intensive personal taste, the flair of inner-sex, in the tenderest friendships of women.

   • 1984, Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider‎:

     One woman wrote, “Because you are Black and Lesbian, you seem to speak with the moral authority of suffering.” Yes, I am Black and Lesbian, and what you hear in my voice is fury, not suffering.

   • 1989, Florence King, Reflections in a Jaundiced Eye

     Suddenly open enrollment struck the Sapphic elite and dykes-for-the-masses were everywhere. We got the Lesbian detective, the Lesbian ghost, the Lesbian vampire, the possessed Lesbian, the Lesbian next door, the Lesbian with a heart of gold, the kept Lesbian, the other Lesbian, the Lesbian amnesiac, the Lesbian with cancer, and just plain Butch.

4. (archaic) Amatory; erotic.

   Lesbian novels

The sense "gay" is now usually not capitalized; see lesbian. Compare gay, which is sometimes capitalized Gay though there is no reason for it to be according to the English language's usual rules for capitalization.

• Lesbian rule

• Nieblas, ansible, bilanes