Bringing together research from queer linguistics and lexicography, this book uncovers how same-sex acts, desires, and identities have been represented in English dictionaries published in Britain from the early modern to the inter-war period. Moving across time – from the appearance of the first standalone English dictionary to the completion of the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary – and shuttling across genres – from general usage, hard words, thieves' cant, and slang to law, medicine, classical myth, women's biography, and etymology – it asks how dictionary-writers made sense of same-sex intimacy, and how they failed or refused to make sense of it. It also queries how readers interacted with dictionaries' constructions of sexual morality, against the broader backdrop of changing legal, religious, and scientific institutions. In answering these questions, the book responds and contributes to established traditions and new trends in linguistics, queer theory, literary criticism, and the history of sexuality.

Finalist, 2025 PROSE- Humanities, Association of American Publishers

‘Written with grace and clarity, this book makes an irrefutable case for historical lexicography and the light it sheds on past understanding of same-sex desire. In particular, it sets out new research on love and sex between women. It combines mastery of lexicographical detail with lucid exploration of the intellectual frameworks shaping historical attitudes to sex.'

Charlotte Brewer - Hertford College, University of Oxford

‘Turton's well-crafted, highly readable monograph uses a scavenger methodology to expose privileged voices repeatedly erasing references to marginalized sexuality in English dictionaries, 1600–1930. A convincing introduction to the method and theory of queer historical linguistics.'

William L. Leap - Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program. Florida Atlantic University, USA

‘This book brilliantly demonstrates what queer theory can do for lexicography – and vice versa. An essential read for lovers and scholars of language, dictionaries, and the long arc of LGBTQ+ history.'

Jeffrey Masten - author of Queer Philologies

‘Stephen Turton’s lively book is a wonderfully rich mine of forgotten sexual slang, … its great strength lies in a generative interweaving of the histories of words and sex, its recognition that dictionary-makers and users are actors in the construction of social and sexual identities. As dictionaries get better at capturing discursively how we talk about ourselves today, they remain a standout resource in our exploration of the way our queer forebears understood themselves in the past.’

Will Tosh Source: The Times Literary Supplement