gigolo
verbEtymology First attested in English in 1922. From French gigolo (“young lover kept by an older woman”), first attested in that sense in 1904 (attested since 1850 in the sense “Amant de cœur, compagnon d'une gigolette", and since 1894 in the sense “elegant young man whose means of livelihood are dubious”), a back-formation from gigolette (“promiscuous dancing girl, girl available for hire as a dancing partner”), attested since 1850, from giguer (“to dance”), from gigue (“fiddle; type of dance; jig”). More at jig.
1
To work or act as a gigolo.
- He says he worked at one thing and another, whatever he could get, but near as I can figure out he was mostly gigoloing, and not finding too many heavy-money dames.1933, Dashiel Hammett, chapter 11, in The Thin Man:
- Since my arrival I’d lost seventeen pounds. What with gigoloing all night, working all day, worrying myself flaming sick, I’d had enough.1988, John Grant (as Jonathan Gash), chapter 30, in Jade Woman, page 221:
1 more example
- ‘[…] [He was s]electing paintings to be forged, supplying canvases and materials, scripting out the fake papers, while you gigoloed with every woman in town and beyond, getting them to paint or deal or buy these fricking pieces, these masterfully detailed fakes!’2009, Amrita Chowdhury, Faking It, page 286:
2
To provide (someone) with the services of a gigolo.
- He sat down at my table in an outdoor trattoria to gigolo me and promptly forgot his lines and went blank.1982, Tom McHale, chapter 20, in Dear Friends, page 217:
- The beach wasn’t crowded yet, and as far as I could tell, there were no gigolos or women waiting to be gigoloed.2008, Liz Tuccillo, How to Be Single, page 247:
3
To offer (oneself or someone else) to someone as a gigolo.
- It might be a joke on the rest of the world; it was also a joke on himself, that he had gigoloed himself to such scurfy stuff.1931, Samuel Roth, chapter 21, in The Private Life of Frank Harris, page 257:
- What would have happened just then I do not know, if Mr. Vertigo had not appeared with the family collie, whom he had gigoloed to Carl Schurz Park.1968, MacKinlay Kantor, The Day I Met a Lion, page 33: