beau
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
Borrowed from French beau, from Latin bellus (“beautiful”). Doublet of bello.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
- (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.”
- 1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, chapter 21
- (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.
- 1917, Kate Douglas Wiggin, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, p. 142:
- A male escort.
- A suitor of a lady.
TranslationsEdit
dandy
boyfriend — see boyfriend
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
- beau in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
AnagramsEdit
AromanianEdit
Alternative formsEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Latin bibō. Compare Romanian bea, beau.
VerbEdit
beau (third-person present singular indicative bea, past participle biutã)
- I drink
Related termsEdit
FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle French beau, from Old French biau, bel, from Latin bellus.
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
beau (masculine singular before vowel bel, feminine singular belle, masculine plural beaux, feminine plural belles)
Usage notesEdit
- To avoid hiatus, the form bel is used before masculine singular nouns that begin with a vowel or mute h.
Derived termsEdit
- a beau mentir qui vient de loin
- à belles dents
- à la belle étoile
- après la pluie, le beau temps
- au beau fixe
- au beau milieu de
- avoir beau
- avoir beau jeu
- avoir de beaux jours devant soi
- Beau
- beau comme le jour
- beau comme un cœur
- beau comme un dieu
- beau gosse
- Beaumont
- beau parleur
- Beauregard
- beau sexe
- beaux-arts
- bel esprit
- bel étage
- bel et bien
- bellâtre
- Belle
- Bellefontaine
- belle infidèle
- belle lurette
- bellement
- de plus belle
- du plus bel effet
- être dans de beaux draps
- être dans de sales draps
- faire la part belle
- faire la pluie et le beau temps
- faire le beau
- fais de beaux rêves
- la belle affaire
- l'échapper belle
- mourir de sa belle mort
- parler de la pluie et du beau temps
- poire belle Hélène
- trop beau pour être vrai
DescendantsEdit
NounEdit
beau m (plural beaux)
Coordinate termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- “beau” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
AnagramsEdit
Middle EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old French bel, biau, from Latin bellus, from Old Latin *duenelos. Doublet of bel.
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
beau
ReferencesEdit
- “beau, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Middle FrenchEdit
Alternative formsEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old French beau, one of the variants of biau.
AdjectiveEdit
beau m (feminine singular belle, masculine plural beaux, feminine plural belles)
DescendantsEdit
- French: beau
Old FrenchEdit
AdjectiveEdit
beau m (oblique and nominative feminine singular bele)
- 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.
- Hansome knight and good was he
DeclensionEdit
Declension of beau
RomanianEdit
PronunciationEdit
VerbEdit
beau