2.12.08

OED on "drag"

Feminine attire worn by a man; also, a party or dance attended by men wearing feminine attire; hence gen., clothes, clothing. slang.

1870 Reynolds's Newsp. 29 May 5/5 We shall come in drag. 1870 London Figaro 23 June 3/4 Not quite so low..as going about in ‘drag’. 1887 Referee 24 July 3/1, I don't like to see low coms. in drag parts. 1927 Sunday Express 13 Feb. 5/5 A drag is a rowdy party attended by abnormal men dressed in scanty feminine garments, singing jazz songs in high falsetto voices. 1942 M. MCCARTHY Company she Keeps (1943) iii. 80 A kind of masquerade of sexuality, like the rubber breasts homosexuals put on for drags. 1959 C. MACINNES Absolute Beginners 27 My Spartan hair-do and my teenage drag and all. 1959 J. OSBORNE World of Paul Slickey II. x. 80 You would never have the fag Of dressing up in drag You'd be a woman at the weekend. 1960 20th Cent. Mar. 255 Bad Taste, exemplified by..Henry Kendall in drag. This is by no means the first time that Mr. Kendall has appeared to reverse his sex. 1966 Listener 23 June 918/3 Laurence Olivier, doing his Othello voice and attired painstakingly in Arab drag. 1967 Spectator 14 July 54/1 The gear shops flip their decor as often as they do the pop tunes blaring out the newest hits as you try on the latest ‘drag’. 1968 R. BAKER (title) Drag, a history of female impersonation on the stage.

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