faggot

Etymology

From Middle English fagot, from Old French fagot (“bundle of sticks”), of uncertain origin. Unlikely from Old Occitan fagot or Italian fagotto, as these appear later than the Old French term. Compare also Italian fangotto and Spanish fajo (“bundle, wad”). Perhaps from a diminutive of Vulgar Latin *facus, from Latin fascis (“bundle of wood”). Compare also Old High German fazza (“bundle, load, burden”). Doublet of fagotto. See also: fag. The senses relating to persons, though possibly originating as an extension of the sense "bundle of sticks", may have been reinforced by faygele, from Yiddish פֿייגעלע (feygele, “homosexual”, literally “little bird”), related to English fowl.

noun

1. (chiefly Britain, collective) A bundle of sticks or brushwood intended to be used for fuel tied together for carrying. (Some sources specify that a faggot is tied with two bands or withes, whereas a bavin is tied with just one.)
   In the depth of, winter, however, a faggot of real French Sticks — although of little intrinsic value — may possibly enliven for a few moments an English Fireside. 1853, Sir Francis Bond Head, A faggot of French sticks: or, Paris in 1851, page 2
2. (obsolete) Burdensome baggage.
3. A bundle of pieces of iron or steel cut off into suitable lengths for welding.
4. (rare, dated in US) A burning or smouldering piece of firewood.
   He clambered back on his feet and grinned at them. The waning faggot cast red light over his fangs. 1961, Poul Anderson, Three Hearts and Three Lions
   To the east, the night grew a faggot of luminous gray, then seashell opalescence that dimmed the stars. 1965, Frank Herbert, Dune, New York: Berkley (1977), page 102
5. (chiefly Britain) A meatball made with offcuts and offal, especially pork. (See Wikipedia.)
   Today would be faggots in gravy and chocolate pudding with a white sauce. I didn't like faggots but picked at them and rolled the peas around my plate. 2008, Julie Hodgson, In My Father's Pockets, page 16
6. (offensive, vulgar, derogatory) An annoying or inconsiderate person.
7. (UK, Ireland, colloquial, derogatory, obsolete) A shrewish woman.
   I appoynt thée no more continencie, than to eate while thy bellie is full, nor conſtancie, but to brawle rather than burne: a filbert is better than a faggot, except it be an Athenian ſhe handfull: you know that Coſmoſophos, euer ſince your laſt mariage, how doth the father of your ſonne in law? 1591, T[homas] L[odge] of Lincolns, Catharos Diogenes in his Singularitie: Wherein is comprehended his merrie baighting fit for all mens benefits: Christened by him, A Nettle for Nice Noſes, London: Iohn Busbie, page 12; republished [Glasgow]: Hunterian Club], [1875]
   she wants me to go to bed to her, and I won't, ... for she is as crooked as a ram's horn ... and as ugly as sin besides ; rot her, the dirty little faggot, she torments me. 1796, Theobald Wolfe Tone, Autobiography
   The woman, in accordance with the custom of the country, raised the Irish cry, in a loud melancholy wail ... Darby, who prided himself on maintaining silence, could not preserve the consistency of his character upon this occasion ... "Your sowl to the divil, you faggot!" he exclaimed, "what do you mane? The divil whip the tongue out o' you! ..." 1834, William Carleton, The Midnight Mass
   he used to be pretending to be laid up with a sick voice doing his highness to make himself interesting for that old faggot Mrs Riordan that he thought he had a great leg of and she never left us a farthing all for masses for herself and her soul greatest miser ever was actually afraid to lay out 4d for her methylated spirit […] 1922, James Joyce, chapter 18, in Ulysses
   To me she is fractious, tiresome, and a faggot. Yet the subtle desirableness is in her, for me. As it is in the brown hen, or even a sow. 1925, D. H. Lawrence, Reflections on the Death of a Porcupine and Other Essays: .. Love Was Once a Little Boy
   MOTHER: To see who? DA: You faggot, you; don't let on you don't know. 1973, Hugh Leonard, Da
8. (offensive, vulgar) A homosexual man, especially an effeminate one.
   Drag, Example: “All the fagots (sissies) will be dressed in drag at the ball tonight. 1914, Louis E. Jackson and C.R. Hellyer, Vocabulary of Criminal Slang (Portland, OR: Modern Printing Co., 1914) page 30
   See the little faggot with the earring and the makeup? / Yeah buddy, that's his own hair / That little faggot got his own jet airplane / That little faggot, he's a millionaire 1985, Sting & Mark Knopfler (lyrics and music), “Money for Nothing”, in Brothers in Arms, performed by Dire Straits
   We're a hot looking crew that's your average faggot's wet dream, so we pull some pretty max tricks. 2004, Dennis Cooper, The Sluts, page 228
   Fleissner's explanation presumably implies that Dickens meant Fag as an allusion to the derogatory English words fag 'homosexual', and faggot 'homosexual' 2009, David L. Gold, Studies in Etymology and Etiology, page 781
   2012, Margaret Cho, quoted (mimicking Karl Lagerfeld) in On Making Sense: Queer Race Narratives of Intelligibility Of course I'm a faggot, darling. I'm a flaming faggot, darling. I am fanning the flames of my faggotry.
9. (offensive, vulgar) A man considered weak, effeminate, timid, pathetic, emotional, non-heteronormative in some way
10. (obsolete) A soldier numbered on the muster-roll, but not really existing.
11. (UK, historical) A faggot voter.
    The Glasgow Herald thought that his attack on the faggots was too serious […] 1973, Ellen Reid Gold, Gladstone in Midlothian: A Rhetorical Analysis of His 1879 Campaign, page 114
12. (Ireland, dated, slang) A lazy, weak, work-shy person.

verb

1. Alternative form of fagot