back gammon player

English

Etymology

Probably derived from a pun on backgammon, with backside and gammon (“the lower or hind part of a side of bacon”) in the context of anal sex.

Pronunciation

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Noun

back gammon player (plural back gammon players)

1. (idiomatic, archaic, slang) A person, chiefly a homosexual, who has anal sex.

   Synonyms: gentleman of the back door, usher of the back door

   • 1808, A Letter to His Majesty: The Bandogs:

     Sir Thomas found it convenient to believe Doctor Nooth's assertion, and therefore packed up his baggage and effects to sail for England, on board the Triumph, with his military friend and back gammon player, Colonel Willington; this gentleman, while on shore, laughed at the absurdity of fearing the infection, but the moment he was on board, his opinion altered, it shifted with the wind, he began to insinuate, that it might be communicable, and in consequence, Sir George Barlow absolutely refused to permit Sir Thomas, or his baggage, to have a passage in the Triumph: Sir George acted very prudently, and Sir Thomas staid from necessity.

   • 2009, Rita Monaldi, Francesco Sorti, Secretum, page 623:

     They always have boys with them because they're all back-gammon players, which is what we call sodomites.

   • 2014, M.C. Beaton, His Lordship's Pleasure, →ISBN:

     “Hey, you ain't a backgammon player, are you?” Mr. Temple drew a pistol from his pocket and pointed it at Guy. “Imply once more that I am of that breed who prefer amors with their own sex and I shall blow your head off,” he said levelly.

References

• [Francis] Grose [et al.] (1811) “Back gammon player”, in Lexicon Balatronicum. A Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit, and Pickpocket Eloquence. […], London: […] C. Chappell, […], →OCLC.