FromLatinLesbiana, fromAncient GreekΛέσβος(Lésbos) + Latin adjective suffix-iana; by reference toSappho ofLesbos (whence alsosapphist,sapphic), known for her sentimental poems about women. This sense of the word may have been borrowed from, or influenced by, the German cognatelesbisch, where it is found in medical literature from the 1830s.
(of a romantic or sexual act or relationship) Between two or more women;homosexual,gay.
alesbian relationship / marriage / kiss
1855 [1854], Charles Hempel, transl.,Homœopathic guide in all diseases of the Urinary and Sexual Organs, Philadelphia: Rademacher & Sheek, translation ofDer homöopathische Rathgeber: in allen Krankheiten der Geschlechts- und Harnwerkzeuge by Wilhelm Gollmann,page201:
The so-termedLesbian love is a vice of a still more hideous and degrading nature than pederasty.
2011, Michael Bruce, Robert M. Stewart,College Sex - Philosophy for Everyone,→ISBN, page32:
[…] Madonna's infamous nationally televisedlesbian kiss with Britney Spears[…]
(especially of an institution or group) Intended forlesbians.
We're going to alesbian bar tonight.
2000, Bonnie Zimmerman,Encyclopedia oflesbian and gay histories and cultures, volume 1, page135:
Some lesbians also felt comfortable in the entertainment clubs in the black section of the city; these clubs were notlesbian but were lesbian friendly.
2008, Carl Abbott,How cities won the West: four centuries of urban change, page283:
Openly gay poets such as Allen Ginsberg were prominent among the beats, and many North Beach bars were gay andlesbian as well as bohemian.
(of a woman: preferring women partners):dyke(usually offensive, but reclaimed by some lesbians),gay(preferred by some lesbians),homosexual(not specific to women)
(between women; pertaining to women's homosexuality):dyke(usually offensive, but reclaimed by some lesbians),gay(preferred by some lesbians),homosexual(not specific to women)
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
1904, Jacobus X,Crossways of Sex: A Study in Eroto-pathology, volume 1, page 2:
There have also been women who loved other women. These are theLesbians orTribades.
2020, Ana Patrícia Hilário, Fábio Rafael Augusto,Practical and Ethical Dilemmas in Researching Sensitive Topics with Populations Considered Vulnerable, page91:
Another Spanish-speaking respondent said that she does not identify as alesbian because that is a term for women who like women, and as she does not like women, and so she cannot be alesbian.
(uncommon) Afemale animal that performs courtship, pairing or mating behavior with other female animals.
1979, Terry Hekker,Ever Since Adam and Eve, New York: Morrow:
There was one recently that determined on an island off California 14 percent of the female sea gulls werelesbians (and we know that kind of thing would never go among Nantucket sea gulls).
2014, George H Harrison,Birds Do It, Too: The Amazing Sex Life of Birds, Willow Creek Press,→ISBN:
The only between this pair and others in the community is that they are among the 8 to 14 percent of the residents that arelesbians. After building their nest, the pair, two female western gulls, customarily produce twice as many eggs[…]
Many dictionaries definelesbian simply as a woman who is sexually (or romantically[1][2]) attracted to other women.[1][3][4][5][6] It especially refers to one who is attractedmostly orexclusively to other women.[2] It issometimes used in a way that includes other (e.g.bisexual)women who love women, or certainnon-binary people.
2016, April Kalogeropoulos Householder, Adrienne Trier-Bieniek,Feminist Perspectives on Orange Is the New Black, page85:
Surveillance by other inmates creates yet another dimension of power and control. Angry with Chapman and Vause, Dogget tells Healy that she has witnessed the two “lesbianing” in the shower,[…]
