faggery

English

Etymology

fag +‎ -ery

Pronunciation

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Noun

faggery (uncountable)

1. (UK, education, historical) The system in boarding schools whereby younger students acted as servants for older students.
   • 1839, “The Triumvirate”, in The Carthusian: A Miscellany in Prose and Verse, volume 1, page 182:

     Was it to be borne, that when the Slaves had been emancipated in the West Indies, and the Factory children had, been relieved from their incessant labour, that they were still to be doomed to the servile condition of Faggery, and be kept six hours a-day in school?

   • 1853, Thomas De Quincey, “Autobiographic Sketches”, in Philip Van Doren Stern, editor, Selected Writings Of Thomas De Quincey, published 1937, The Nation of London, page 190:

     And, as faggery was an abuse too venerable and sacred to be touched by profane hands, he lodged no idle complaints.

2. (slang, derogatory) Homosexuality.

   Synonym: faggotry