Queer Street

English

Etymology

Unknown

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Proper noun

Queer Street

1. (idiomatic, British, dated) Hard times; a difficult circumstance, especially bankruptcy.
   • 1818, Thomas Hudson, Comic Songs, page 23:

     But soon they led a Queer-street life, / 'Twas what she'd not expected / Like cat and dog, with snarl and strife, / And love and lamps neglected. / About his work he would not wag

   • 2009 March 17, “The dangers of commerce in medical care”, in Yorkshire Post:

     The only reason Ms Beverley-Stevenson and her two companies are in business is to make a profit, otherwise she and her partners would be on Queer Street.

   • 1927 March 5, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place”, in The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, London: John Murray, […], published June 1927 (May 1952 printing), →OCLC, page 277:

     “ […] He is one of those men who have overshot their true generation. He should have been a buck in the days of the Regency—a boxer, an athlete, a plunger on the Turf, a lover of fair ladies, and, by all account, so far down Queer Street that he may never find his way back again.”

2. (idiomatic, British, dated) Suspicious circumstances.
   • 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:

     I found the wadding of the pistol with which the deceased Mr. Tulkinghorn was shot. It was a bit of the printed description of your house at Chesney Wold. Not much in that, you'll say, Sir Leicester Dedlock, Baronet. No. But when my foreign friend here is so thoroughly off her guard as to think it a safe time to tear up the rest of that leaf, and when Mrs. Bucket puts the pieces together and finds the wadding wanting, it begins to look like Queer Street.

3. (idiomatic, boxing) A stunned condition.
   • 1957 August 10, “Cronin's Corner”, in Los Angeles Times:

     In any event, the German slugger nailed down 21 of his 39 victories by putting his opponent on Queer Street via the knockout route.

   • 1971 March 9, “In the Wake of the News”, in Chicago Tribune:

     Frazier had him on Queer Street in the 11th round. ... He was glad he got off Queer Street.

Usage notes

• This term may be seen as offensive by those unaware of its actual meanings.