Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A boy who has a sexual relationship with a man.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A boy kept for unnatural purposes.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A boy kept for unnatural purposes.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The
junior partner in apaederastic relationship.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a boy who submits to a sexual relationship with a man
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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'A catamite is a boy ... a prostitute boy lover. '
Penalty Francis, Dick 1997
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"Ever since I had to look up the word 'catamite' when I read that famous first line of Earthly Powers in 1981," he says, "I have been a Burgess fan."
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"Ever since I had to look up the word 'catamite' when I read that famous first line of Earthly Powers in 1981," he says, "I have been a Burgess fan."
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Not to be confused with "catamite", which is a small boy kept for unnatural purposes.
Latest Articles 2009
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A guy whose catamite boyfriend runs a homosexual brothel out of their house.
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We don't take kindly to catamite-poaching in this neck of Syracuse.
Jilly Gagnon: Moments of Great Genius Jilly Gagnon 2010
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Maybe showing Baron Harkonon sodomizing a ballgagged catamite?
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Archimedes: But I told you, I wasn't with my catamite
Jilly Gagnon: Moments of Great Genius Jilly Gagnon 2010
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Eng. for “young hobo,” one who is new on the road and usually in the company of an older tramp, with catamite connotations.
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People with the education to have the word “catamite” in their vocabulary and still write comments like this one make me sick.
roetzel commented on the word catamite
Ogged was a prodigious catamite.
December 10, 2006
brtom commented on the word catamite
I asked him what he thought of the charge of pederasty brought against the bard. He lifted his hands and said: All we can say is that life ran very high in those days. Lovely!
Catamite.
-- The sense of beauty leads us astray, said beautifulinsadness Best to ugling Eglinton.
Joyce, Ulysses, 9
January 6, 2007
shevek commented on the word catamite
Sounds like this is right up there with marmite.
July 20, 2008
reesetee commented on the word catamite
Second definition: WeirdNet!
July 28, 2008
obikitty commented on the word catamite
I have a fun story for this word: my friend Kevin and I always used to IM insults at each other whenever we were online at the same time. I'd recently read a book where this word popped up (something nautical, I think, not that it matters) and so I sent it his way. He was, shocking as it may seem, very angry. He was a big egotistical know-it-all though, so it was probably more from the fact that he had to look it up, than the insult itself. Well, maybe it was a tie...
October 17, 2008
hedgerows commented on the word catamite
'The word catamite is derived from the Latin catamitus, itself borrowed from the Etruscan catmite, a corruption of the Greek Ganymedes, the boy who was seduced by Zeus and became his beloved and cup-bearer in Greek mythology'. -- Wikipedia
I encountered this word in the Libertine play, 'The Farce of Sodom, or, the Quintessence of Debauchery'. In the list of 'dramatis personae', the character of Pockenello is described as 'Pimp, Catamite, and the King's Favourite'.
February 9, 2009
garyth123 commented on the word catamite
I came across it in Anthony Burgess' novel Earthly Powers.
February 9, 2009
eeek commented on the word catamite
I was reading Mary Stewart's Merlin series and had to look up catamite. Now I have yet another word in my insult arsenal. Maybe cornhobble could also mean to slap a person in the fact with a word they don't know?
March 29, 2009
madmouth commented on the word catamite
the etymology lends a bizarre significance to The Ganymede Club for gentlemen's personal gentlemen
October 29, 2009
noirling commented on the word catamite
Came across it in Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
November 8, 2009
jaime_d commented on the word catamite
From "C. Musonius Rufus" by Guy Davenport
January 19, 2010
Prolagus commented on the word catamite
Shevek's comment still makes me laugh out loud, as my roommate just found out.
December 2, 2012
bilby commented on the word catamite
List idea: cat but no cat, thanks.
May 7, 2018
qms commented on the word catamite
One of the most memorable opening lines of any novel is that that begins Anthony Burgess’s Earthly Powers:
This is in medias res with a vengeance.
May 7, 2018
bilby commented on the word catamite
Top stuff.
May 7, 2018
madmouth commented on the word catamite
Burroughs' memoirs with a vengeance
May 8, 2018