Wiktionary

beauty

EnglishEdit

 
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EtymologyEdit

From Middle English bewty, bewte, beaute, bealte, from Anglo-Norman and Old French beauté (early Old French spelling biauté), from Vulgar Latin *bellitātem (“beauty”), from Latin bellus (“beautiful, fair”); see beau. In this sense, mostly displaced native Old English fæġernes, whence Modern English fairness.

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

beauty (countable and uncountable, plural beauties)

  1. The quality of being (especially visually) attractive, pleasing, fine or good-looking; comeliness.
    • 1818, John Keats, “Book I”, in Endymion: A Poetic Romance, London: […] [T. Miller] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, lines 1–5, page 3:
      A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: / Its loveliness increases; it will never / Pass into nothingness; but still will keep / A bower quiet for us, and a sleep / Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
    • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
      `Say, hast thou seen enough!' `I have looked on beauty, and I am blinded,' I said hoarsely, lifting my hand to cover up my eyes.
    • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, “chapter I”, in The House Behind the Cedars:
      Warwick's first glance had revealed the fact that the young woman was strikingly handsome, with a stately beauty seldom encountered.
    • 1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 152:
      "The aviators didn't get him," Denham replied slowly. "What?" "It was Beauty. As always Beauty killed the Beast."
    • 1988, "… beauty and recollection, like danger, glamour, greed, hunger- everything but disappointment and desire- were concepts belonging to other people.” -Second Son, Robert Ferro
  3. Someone who is beautiful.
    Brigitte Bardot was a renowned beauty.
  4. Something that is particularly good or pleasing.
    What a goal! That was a real beauty!
  5. An excellent or egregious example of something.
    He got into a fight and ended up with two black eyes – two real beauties!
  6. (with the definite article) The excellence or genius of a scheme or decision.
    The beauty of the deal is it costs nothing!
  7. (physics, obsolete) A beauty quark (now called bottom quark).
  8. Beauty treatment; cosmetology.
  9. (obsolete) Prevailing style or taste; rage; fashion.
    • 1653, Jeremy Taylor, “Twenty-five Sermons Preached at Golden Grove; Being for the Winter Half-year, […]: Sermon XVIII. [The Marriage Ring; or, The Mysteriousness and Duties of Marriage.] Part II.”, in Reginald Heber, editor, The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.D. […], volume V, London: Ogle, Duncan, and Co. […]; and Richard Priestley, […], published 1822, →OCLC, page 277:
      Menander in the comedy brings in a man turning his wife from his house, because she stained her hair yellow, which was then the beauty.
  10. (archaic, in the plural) Beautiful passages or extracts of poetry.

Usage notesEdit

  • Adjectives often applied to "beauty": natural, great, real, physical, exotic, inner, spiritual, strange, divine, visual, heavenly, intellectual, facial, attractive, sensuous, sensual, seductive, musical, austere, alluring, mathematical, geometric, astounding, bodily, pictorial.

SynonymsEdit

AntonymsEdit

Derived termsEdit

DescendantsEdit

  • → Cebuano: byuti

TranslationsEdit

beauty quark — see bottom quark
beauty treatment — see cosmetology
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

See alsoEdit

InterjectionEdit

beauty

  1. (Canada) Thanks!
  2. (Canada) Cool!
    It's the long weekend. Beauty!

AdjectiveEdit

beauty (comparative more beauty, superlative most beauty)

  1. (Canada) Of high quality, well done.
    He made a beauty pass through the neutral zone.

VerbEdit

beauty (third-person singular simple present beauties, present participle beautying, simple past and past participle beautied)

  1. (obsolete, transitive) To make beautiful.

Further readingEdit

DutchEdit

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from English beauty.

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /ˈbjuː.ti/
  • Audio(file)
  • Hyphenation: beau‧ty

NounEdit

beauty f (plural beauty's, diminutive beauty'tje n)

  1. A beauty, looker, beautiful person
  2. A beautiful other creature or thing
    Die prachtige hengst is al net zo'n beauty als z'n ruiter
    That gorgeous stallion is as much of a beauty as his rider
  3. Human beauty, as the object or goal of cosmetics etc.

SynonymsEdit

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