Skip to content
ontologydriven
Sign out

Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

go both ways en · VERB

Meanings

  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see go, both, ways.
    • [...] people generally went by the railroad; that is, decidedly more than went on the dirt road. Witness had seen men go both ways. 1907, The Southwestern Reporter, page 571:
  2. (informal) To be, or be in, a mutual or reciprocal relationship or obligation.
    • empathy goes both ways
  3. (informal) To be bisexual.
    • I have a straight bitch in the telly going both ways. 2004, “How We Do”, in Jayceon Taylor, Mike Elizondo, Curtis J. Jackson, Andre R. Young (lyrics), Andre R. Young and Mike Elizondo (music), The Documentary, performed by The Game (featuring 50 Cent), G-Unit Records:
  4. (especially, informal, of a gay man) To be versatile, able to act as either a top or a bottom.
    • When Mark sought my supervision, I taught him the terms top and bottom and explained that gay men usually self-identify as either one or the other. Some men go both ways—calling themselves "versatile"—[…] 2011, Joe Kort, Gay Affirmative Therapy for the Straight Clinician, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, page 180:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
gone both ways Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
going both ways Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
went both ways Tense=Past lexicographic
goes both ways Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic

Relateds

cut both ways · swing both ways · have it both ways

Synonyms

bat for both sides · go both ways · swing both ways