lesbian

adj

1. Homosexual, gay; preferring exclusively women as romantic or sexual partners.

   “Lesbian fans of the show were rooting for Jane and Amanda to get together.”

2. (broadly)Homosexual, gay; preferring exclusively women as romantic or sexual partners.
3. Between two or more women; homosexual, gay.

   “a lesbian relationship / marriage / kiss”

   “The so-termed Lesbian love is a vice of a still more hideous and degrading nature than pederasty.”

   “[…] Madonna's infamous nationally televised lesbian kiss with Britney Spears […]”

4. (especially)Intended for lesbians.

   “We're going to a lesbian bar tonight.”

   “Some lesbians also felt comfortable in the entertainment clubs in the black section of the city; these clubs were not lesbian but were lesbian friendly.”

   “Openly gay poets such as Allen Ginsberg were prominent among the beats, and many North Beach bars were gay and lesbian as well as bohemian.”

5. (alt-of, archaic)Alternative letter-case form of Lesbian (“of or pertaining to the island of Lesbos”).
6. Of or pertaining to the island of Lesbos.

   “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.”

7. Of or pertaining to the Lesbian variety of Aeolic Greek.
8. (alt-of)Alternative letter-case form of lesbian (“of women: gay”).

   “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.”

   “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.”

9. (archaic)Amatory; erotic.

   “Lesbian novels”

noun

1. A homosexual woman, one who is exclusively sexually or romantically attracted to other women.

   “There have also been women who loved other women. These are the Lesbians or Tribades.”

   “Another Spanish-speaking respondent said that she does not identify as a lesbian because that is a term for women who like women, and as she does not like women, and so she cannot be a lesbian.”

2. (uncommon)A female animal that performs courtship, pairing or mating behavior with other female animals.

   “There was one recently that determined on an island off California 14 percent of the female sea gulls were lesbians (and we know that kind of thing would never go among Nantucket sea gulls).”

   “The only between this pair and others in the community is that they are among the 8 to 14 percent of the residents that are lesbians. After building their nest, the pair, two female western gulls, customarily produce twice as many eggs […]”

3. (alt-of, archaic)Alternative letter-case form of Lesbian (“native or inhabitant of Lesbos.”).
4. (countable)A native or inhabitant of Lesbos.
5. (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.
6. (countable, historical, uncountable)A sweet, mild wine made on Lesbos in ancient times.

   “Our Saviour in the gospel preferreth old wine before new; & Aristotle liketh better of the wine of Lesbos, the the^([sic]) 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.”

   “[…] 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.”

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

   “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.”

7. (alt-of, countable)Alternative letter-case form of lesbian (“gay woman”).

verb

1. (ambitransitive, informal, nonstandard)To (cause to) take part in lesbian sex, or other lesbian activity.

   “That's the way I want to go – Lesbianed to death.”

   “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, […]”