The standard definition is that it is the quality of things which pleases or delights the senses or intellect. However, being stroked can please and delight the senses, but it hardly seems right to say that being stroked is beautiful.
Some philosophers hold that beauty is an intrinsic, mind-dependent quality of objects.
Anthropologists say that beauty is not simply an essence embodied in the object or action itself, but derives from the values and ideas of the creator or observer, who is in turn affected by his or her cultural milieux. Therefore, concepts of beauty vary not just from person to person, but cross-culturally as well. Whether associated with physical attractiveness, artistic practices or products, graceful motions or other factors or attributes, ideas of beauty are closely entwined with values and expectations held in particular communities. They entail ideals of collective thought sustained by certain limitations. For example, ideas about a person's beauty are predetermined by the individual's gender.