English

Noun

man crush ‎(plural man crushes)

1. (colloquial) A crush-like but non-sexual feeling of attraction toward and admiration for a man.^[1][2]
   • 2004, Mark St. Amant, Committed: Confession of a Fantasy Football Junkie, Simon and Schuster, ISBN 0-7432-6756-7, page 278,

     Another interesting note from the Super Bowl: aside from my season-long man-crush, Stephen Davis (who ultimately let me down in Week 15), and maybe his Panther teammate WR Steve Smith, who had a good season (when he wasn’t beating the **** out of his own teammates in team meetings, that is), there was not one, single fantasy stud on either Super Bowl team.

   • 2005, Phil Kiver, 182 Days in Iraq, Word Association Publishers, ISBN 1595710787, page 82,

     The second one was a gag gift for Private First Class Dubee. He had this man crush on a male professional wrestler. We managed to get a digital shot of Dubee standing next to a poster of his man crush.

   • 2005 August 11, Tyler Kirtley, Letter to the Editor, The New York Times,

     Far from feeling threatened, my girlfriend finds solace in them and would view any young man not admitting to a man crush as uncomfortable with his sexuality.

   • 2007, Bill Simmons, Vegas follow-up, ESPN.com

     It's no secret that Texas has become my favorite college hoops team; my man-crush on [Kevin] Durant has reached the point that I should probably remain at least 100 yards away from him at all times.

2. (colloquial) A crush on (sexual attraction toward) a man.
   • 2004, Joyce Anthony Huff, Meadowlark, Xlibris Corporation, ISBN 1-4134-6606-0, page 52,

     “[…] Her old man crushes were always just that—crushes. But maybe she really is dating him. […]”

   • 2005, Amy Scheibe, What Do You Do All Day?, St. Martin's Press, ISBN 0-312-34303-5, page 65,

     We talk a bit about the man crushes we have in common, recount our conquests, celebrate our fabulous younger selves. We don't talk about the men we lost, or how utterly decimating the eighties were, or how lucky we are to be sitting here, drinking ourselves silly.

   • 2005, Jennifer Crusie, Flirting with Pride & Prejudice: Fresh Perspectives on the Original Chick-Lit Masterpiece, BenBella Books, Inc., ISBN 1932100725, page 119,

     […] for a certain faction of American women, the accent is swoon-worthy on its own. I will confess that the Darcy accent I concocted in my head while reading Pride and Prejudice for the first time was a huge contributor to my fictional man crush.

Coordinate terms

• girl crush
• womance

See also

• bromance

References

1. ↑ “man crush” in Aaron Peckham (ed.), Urban Dictionary: Fularious Street Slang Defined, Andrews McMeel Publishing (2005), ISBN 0-7407-5143-3, page 217.
2. ↑ “man crush” in KTCK's online “Ticktionary”: “One male being in awe of another male for any reason”, quoted in John Mark Dempsey, “KTCK, ‘The Ticket,’ Dallas-Fort Worth: ‘Radio by the Everyman, for the Everyman’”, in John Mark Dempsey (ed.), Sports-talk Radio in America: Its Context And Culture, Haworth Press (2006), ISBN 0789025906, page 27.