beau
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /bəʊ/
ipa: /boʊ/
homophone: bo
homophone: bow
rhymes: -əʊ
Forms: form: beaux
form: beaus
Etymology: From Middle English beau, beu, bew, bewe, from Old French beau, from Latin bellus (“beautiful”). Doublet of bello and boo.
Senses: examples: text: “[…]—I suppose your brother was quite a beau, Miss Dashwood, before he married, as he was so rich?”
“Upon my word,” replied Elinor, “I cannot tell you, for I do not perfectly comprehend the meaning of the word. But this I can say, that if he ever was a beau before he married, he is one still, for there is not the smallest alteration in him.”
“Oh! dear! one never thinks of married men’s being beaux—they have something else to do.”
ref: 1811, [Jane Austen], chapter XXI, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume I, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 290:
text: [H]e could not but turn with ineffable contempt to the tawdry beaus and belles from the city, who presumed to mingle in the fashionable gala.
ref: 1824, Cut and Come again [pseudonym], “On Cutting”, in Tobias Merton [pseudonym; Samuel Egerton Brydges and Egerton Anthony Brydges], editor, The Literary Magnet of the Belles Lettres, Science, and the Fine Arts: […], volume II, London: William Charlton Wright, […], page 19:
synonyms: word: blood
word: popinjay
word: barbermonger
word: beau
word: blade
word: blood
word: buck
word: carpet knight
word: cockscomb
word: dandy
word: dike
word: dood
word: dude
word: dudelet
word: exquisite
word: fashionable
word: fast man
word: fine gentleman
word: fop
word: foretop
word: fribble
word: gallant
word: go
word: jack-a-dandy
word: Jemmy-Jessamy
word: jetter
word: macaroni
word: masher
word: metrosexual
word: mignon
word: petit maître
word: popinjay
word: pretty boy
word: prig
word: puss-gentleman
word: smart
word: spark
word: spiff
word: swell
word: tippy
word: toff
coordinate_terms: belle
glosses: A man with a reputation for fine dress and etiquette; a dandy or fop.
examples: text: Hannah's beau takes all her time 'n' thought, and when she gits a husband her mother'll be out o' sight and out o' mind.
ref: 1917, Kate Douglas Wiggin, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, page 142:
text: “I don’t see how. But anyhow, you’ll be rich some day—your Aunt Elizabeth will likely leave you all her money, Mother says. So I don’t care if you are living on charity—I love you and I’m going to stick up for you. Have you got a beau, Emily?”
“No,” cried Emily, blushing violently and quite scandalized at the idea. “Why, I’m only eleven.”
ref: 1923, Lucy Maud Montgomery, “Chapter 8”, in Emily of New Moon:
text: Kristin Davis has taken time out to enjoy the surf and sand with her Australian beau, photographer Russell James.
ref: 2009 December 10, Philippa Bourke, Monsters and Critics:
text: Reporters ask her about her love life—her current beau is rumored to be Conor Kennedy, a grandson of Robert F. Kennedy—even if they get nowhere.
ref: 2012 October 24, Jon Caramanica, “No More Kid Stuff for Taylor Swift”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
synonyms: word: suitor
word: swain
word: admirer
word: adorer
word: baby
word: beloved
word: courter
word: crush
word: darling
word: enamorado
word: flame
word: follower
word: leman
word: loteby
word: love
word: love interest
word: lover
word: paramour
word: sparker
word: sweetheart
word: truelove
word: wooer
glosses: A male lover; a boyfriend.
synonyms: word: callboy
word: party boy
word: abandons
word: alley cat
word: almah
word: bangtail
word: Bankside lady
word: bargirl
word: bat
word: beotch
word: blouze
word: blowen
word: blowsabella
word: brass nail
word: brasser
word: brass
word: broad
word: business girl
word: calico queen
word: callet
word: cat
word: chippy
word: chromo
word: coaster
word: cockatrice
word: cocotte
word: comfort girl
word: comfort woman
word: commoner
word: Covent Garden nun
word: creature of the night
word: croshabell
word: daughter of joy
word: dollymop
word: doxy
word: drab
word: Dutch widow
word: escort
word: fille de joie
word: flap
word: floozie
word: fornicatrix
word: frail sister
word: Fulham virgin
word: gamester
word: gay lady
word: geebag
word: gillian
word: gill
word: girl rented overnight
word: good-time girl
word: GRO
word: hackney
word: harlot
word: Haymarket ware
word: hireling
word: 'ho
word: hoer
word: hoe
word: hook
word: hooker
word: hustler
word: Japayuki-san
word: jay
word: karayuki-san
word: KTV girl
word: laced mutton
word: lady of leisure
word: lady of light virtue
word: lady of pleasure
word: lady of the evening
word: lady of the night
word: lightskirt
word: loose woman
word: lot lizard
word: meat puppet
word: meretrix
word: mermaid
word: minx
word: mob
word: moll
word: mort wap-apace
word: mot
word: mud kicker
word: mud-kicker
word: mudkicker
word: musk cat
word: mutton
word: nun
word: nymph of darkness
word: nymph of the pavé
word: nymph of the pavement
word: painted lady
word: Paphian
word: party girl
word: pavement princess
word: perdita
word: pimpette
word: pretty horsebreaker
word: priestess of Venus
word: pro skirt
word: prossie
word: prossy
word: pross
word: prostie
word: prostitute
word: prostitutor
word: prosty
word: prozzie
word: prozzy
word: pro
word: public woman
word: pucelle
word: puella publica
word: pug
word: punk
word: pussygirl
word: puta
word: put
word: quail
word: quean
word: quene
word: quiff
word: ribibe
word: scrubber
word: sex labourer
word: sex worker
word: skainsmate
word: skivvy
word: slag
word: slapper
word: slit
word: slut
word: sodomitess
word: soiled dove
word: stem siren
word: stew
word: street taco
word: strumpet
word: succubus
word: Suzi Wong
word: Suzie Wong
word: Suzy Wong
word: tart
word: tawaif
word: thotty
word: thot
word: tib
word: tom
word: treddle
word: trick turner
word: trollop
word: trug
word: trull
word: tweak
word: vice girl
word: wanton
word: wapping dell
word: wapping moll
word: wapping mort
word: wench
word: whore
word: woman of easy virtue
word: woman of ill fame
word: woman of ill repute
word: woman of the night
word: woman of the street
word: woman of the town
word: working girl
glosses: A male escort.
synonyms: courter
sparker
wooer
glosses: A suitor of a lady.
Derived terms: beau-catcher
beauish
beauism
beauless
beauship
beautillion
unbeaued
Related terms: beau geste
beau idéal
beau ideal
beau-ideal
beau joueur
beau monde
beau monde seasoning
beau sabreur