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queer as a clockwork orange. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
queer as a clockwork orange, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
queer as a clockwork orange in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
Cockney phrase from East London indicating something bizarre internally, but appearing natural and normal on the surface. Author Anthony Burgess appropriated the phrase for the title of his novella A Clockwork Orange.
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Anything more about the origin of the term than 'from East London'?”)
Pronunciation
Adjective
queer as a clockwork orange
- (simile) Strange, odd, unusual.
- (simile) Unusually camp, unusually homosexual.
- 1997, Tony Harrison, quoted in Sandie Byrne's introduction to Tony Harrison: Loiner (ed Sandie Byrne, 1997)
- He sauntered the flunkied restaurant, queer /As a clockwork orange and not scared. /God, I was grateful for the nights we shared.
Synonyms
Translations
Translations to be checked
References
- Dominic Head (2002) The Cambridge Introduction to Modern British Fiction, 1950-2000: “(footnote) Morrison observes that the title is taken from a Cockney expression, 'as queer as a clockwork orange' which means 'very queer indeed', with or without a sexual implication.”