gigolo
Americannoun
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a man living off the earnings or gifts of a woman, especially a younger man supported by an older woman in return for his sexual attentions and companionship.
-
a male professional dancing partner or escort.
noun
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a man who is kept by a woman, esp an older woman
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a man who is paid to dance with or escort women
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of gigolo
First recorded in 1920–25; from French, masculine derivative of gigole, gigolette “woman of the streets, of public dance halls,” probably ultimately from Middle French giguer “to frolic” ( see jig 2); cf. giglet, which may have influenced gigolette
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“What? Why would your dad think you’re a gigolo? Didn’t you say you were a writer, a voice-over actor, a comedian, a hotel bellman?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2023
"I stepped up on the kerb and, as my foot came down, I was like, 'Who's that gigolo on the street?'" says the singer.
From BBC ● Feb. 1, 2020
The character Joanna has been reinvented as Joe, played by Enzo Cilenti as an old-style continental gigolo.
From New York Times ● Aug. 12, 2019
Not always a gigolo and gambler, Casanova also pursued careers in medicine, the law, military service and even as a church cleric.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 17, 2018
From that afternoon, throughout the next two weeks, if any girl as thoroughly fine as Mary Hubbell could be said to run after any man, Mary ran after that gigolo.
From Gigolo by Ferber, Edna
Las Vegas has been a major player in reality television for years, with shows about pawn shops, tattoo artists, hot rods, casinos, cage fighters, limo drivers, gigolos and polygamists.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 19, 2015
Union In Paris, 100 professional dancers unionized themselves against "gigolos" who, by their "insidious manners" and second-rate dancing, have discredited the profession.
From Time Magazine Archive
It certainly isn't fair in the light of the matter to have called these gentlemen the title of "gigolos."
From Time Magazine Archive
"Salome," epicene and sleepy, the "Woman In the Moon," "Venus" in a modern gown, Pierrots, Sapphos, gigolos, whatnots.
From Time Magazine Archive
But Rorem's Paris Diary notes instead that Hutton danced with "one of the forgotten gigolos."
From Time Magazine Archive
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
