beau

See also: Beau and beau-

Contents

EnglishEdit

EtymologyEdit

Borrowing from French beau, from Latin bellus (“beautiful”).

PronunciationEdit

• (UK) IPA^(key): /bəʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /boʊ/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Homophone: bow
• Rhymes: -əʊ

NounEdit

beau (plural beaux or beaus)

1. (dated) A man with a reputation for fine dress and etiquette; a dandy or fop.
   • 1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, chapter 21

     “I do not 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 mens’^[sic] being beaux—they have something else to do.”

2. (dated) A male lover; a boyfriend.
   • 1917, Kate Douglas Wiggin, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, p. 142:

     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.

   • 2009, Philippa Bourke, Monsters and Critics [1], Dec 10, 2009:

     Kristin Davis has taken time out to enjoy the surf and sand with her Australian beau, photographer Russell James.

3. A male escort.

TranslationsEdit

dandy

• Bulgarian: конте (konte), франт m (frant)
• Czech: švihák m
• Finnish: keikari (fi), hienostelija (fi)

• German: Beau (de) m
• Polish: dandys (pl) m
• Russian: де́нди (ru) m (dɛ́ndi), франт (ru) m (frant), щёголь (ru) m (ščógolʹ)

boyfriend — see boyfriend

See alsoEdit

• beau-
• beautiful
• Beau

ReferencesEdit

• beau in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

AnagramsEdit

• Aube, aube

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AromanianEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Latin bibō. Compare Romanian bea, beau.

VerbEdit

beau (third-person present singular indicative bea, past participle biutã)

1. I drink

Related termsEdit

• beari/beare
• biut
• biutor
• biuturã
• parabeau

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FrenchEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Middle French beau, from Old French biau, bel, from Latin bellus.

PronunciationEdit

• IPA^(key): /bo/

• Audio (France, Paris)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -o
• Homophones: bau, baux, beaux, bot, bots

AdjectiveEdit

beau (masculine singular before vowel bel, feminine singular belle, masculine plural beaux, feminine plural belles)

1. handsome, fine, attractive
2. nice
3. fair (weather)

   Il fait beau.

   It is nice out.

Usage notesEdit

To avoid hiatus, the form 'bel' is used before a singular masculine noun that begins with a vowel or a mute “h”

Derived termsEdit

• avoir beau
• bellâtre
• Bellefontaine
• bellement

AnagramsEdit

• aube

Further readingEdit

• “beau” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Middle FrenchEdit

Alternative formsEdit

• bel

EtymologyEdit

From Old French beau, one of the variants of biau.

AdjectiveEdit

beau m (feminine singular belle, masculine plural beaux, feminine plural belles)

1. beautiful; handsome; attractive

DescendantsEdit

• French: beau

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Old FrenchEdit

AdjectiveEdit

beau m (oblique and nominative feminine singular bele)

1. Alternative form of biau
   • circa 1190, Marie de France, Lai de Isclavret:

     beaus chevalers e bons esteit
     e noblement se cunteneit.

     Hansome knight and good was he
     and he behaved nobly.

DeclensionEdit

Declension of beau

Number	Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	Subject	beaus	bele	beau
	Oblique	beau	bele	beau
Plural	Subject	beau	beles	beau
	Oblique	beaus	beles	beau

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RomanianEdit

PronunciationEdit

• IPA^(key): [bʲæw]

VerbEdit

beau

1. first-person singular present tense form of bea.
2. first-person singular subjunctive form of bea.
3. third-person plural present tense form of bea.
4. third-person plural imperfect form of bea.