transvestism
(trɑːnsˈvɛstɪz(ə)m, træns-, -nz-)
[ad. G. transvestismus, f. L. trans trans- + vestīre to clothe: see transvest v., -ism.]
The action of dressing in the clothes of the opposite sex; the condition of having an abnormal desire to dress in the clothes of the opposite sex.
| 1928 [see Eonism]. 1938 Spectator 2 Dec. 962/1 So unimportant is the sexual element that transvestism is common in many dance-forms [in Bali] and produces no feeling of embarrassment. 1959 Listener 2 July 31/2 The transvestism which is part of the witch/fairy tradition. 1977 E. J. Trimmer et al. Visual Dict. Sex (1978) xix. 199 The most common cases of transvestism are heterosexual men leading otherwise conventional sex lives. |
Hence transˈvestist n. and a. = transvestite n. and a.
| 1944 ‘M. Innes’ Weight of Evidence viii. 88 One of those portraits of her in page's costume. She must have been what they call a transvestist nowadays. 1959 P. Bull I know Face xi. 197, I played the part of Miss Eve Ashley's mother, and the gentleman dressers at Lime Grove were not unpleased by this transvestist carry-on. 1961 Guardian 27 Jan. 8/7, I tired of all those transvestist photographs. 1972 Daily Tel. 23 Mar. 8/1 He was a clothes fetishist and eventually a transvestist. |