α. 1600s Ganimedean, 1600s 1900s– Ganymedean.
β. 1600s Ganimedian, 1700s– Ganymedian.
Ganymedeann.adj.
/ˌɡanᵻˈmiːdɪən/, U.S. /ˌɡænəˈmidiən/ A. n.† 1. Probably: an older man who makes use of a boy or young man as a (typically passive) sexual partner. Cf. Ganymede n. 1a. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual orientation > homosexuality > [noun] > a homosexual person > male > boy or youth
bardash1550
catamite?1552
Ganymede1558
ingle1592
ningle1602
Ganymedean1603
pathic1605
prostitute1654
love-boy1655
punk1698
chicken1914
tart1935
bumboy1937
mo1968
1603 S. Harsnett Declar. Popish Impostures 160 Pandars, Ganimedeans, Enhaunsers of Lust.
2. Science Fiction. A native or inhabitant of Ganymede, the largest satellite of Jupiter (see Ganymede n. 2).
ΚΠ
1943 R. F. Jones in Astounding Sci. Fiction Apr. 10/2 I know about the Korphs and the Titans and the Phobosians and the Ganymedians.
1950 R. Heinlein Farmer in Sky ix. 88 The shelter..was jammed with people, some of them in ship suits and some of them Ganymedeans.
1992 C. Sheffield Cold as Ice (1993) x. 151 She herself had never found anything wrong with the old nondecimal twenty-four-hour/sixty-minute/sixty-second system, although the Ganymedeans mocked it as being as old-fashioned as fathoms, feet, fortnights, and furlongs.
2016 C. Pak Terraforming ii. 87 The Ganymedeans contract the Order [of Planetary Engineers] to adapt Callisto's environment.
B. adj.
1. Of, relating to, reminiscent of, or connected with the beautiful youth Ganymede of Greek mythology, or the myth of his being carried up to Olympus to be Zeus's cup-bearer and (in many versions) lover.Frequently with particular reference to sexual activity between an older man and a boy or young man (cf. Ganymede n. 1a), or to handsomeness or physical beauty (cf. Ganymede n. 1b).
ΚΠ
?1628 Satyre on D. of B. in F. W. Fairholt Poems & Songs relating to G. Villiers (1850) 49 The Brittaine crownetts and the clergie's bookes, Were vail'd or burnt at's Ganimedian lookes.
1675 J. Smith Christian Relig. Appeal iii. iii. 24 He [sc. Orpheus] deservedly contracted the just hatred of all Womankind, by his singing the flagitious brutishness of the Gods, in their unnatural Ganimedian Lusts.
1778 Morning Post 26 Sept. The more base attraction of the Ganymedian touch of Sporus.
1850 Harper's Mag. Nov. 812/2 He dextrously spilt some of the wine, as he performed his Ganymedian office.
1870 Fun 17 Sept. 112/2 The gardens of ganymedian gladness wherein the temple sacred to Hebe and Apollo..had been erected.
1958 R. Church Country Window viii. 24 Boys dodging from knot to knot in a Ganymedean eagerness.
2006 S. Schibanoff Chaucer's Queer Poetics iv. 158 As the eagle's captive, Geffrey prepares to undergo a Ganymedean episode.
2. Astronomy and Science Fiction. Of, relating to, or from Ganymede, the largest satellite of Jupiter (see Ganymede n. 2).
ΚΠ
1935 R. Z. Gallun in Astounding Stories Oct. 24/1 He kept hearing the weird screams of the Loathi echoing inside him; he kept seeing..their batlike bodies swooping crazily out of the Ganymedean night.
1944 Planet Stories Spring 111/2 Even the full capacity of the mind of a Ganymedean savage wasn't sufficient to develop a spaceship.
1986 C. R. Chapman & W. B. McKinnon in J. A. Burns & M. S. Matthews Satellites xi. 568 Smaller Ganymedean craters are equivalent to simple lunar craters.
2016 C. Pak Terraforming ii. 88 This outlaw community lives at the fringes of the Ganymedean society.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1603