merveilleux

See also: Merveilleux

English

Marie-Guillemine Benoist, Portrait of a Lady (c. 1799)

Alternative forms

• Merveilleux

Etymology

From the French merveilleux.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛɹ.veɪˈjə/, /-ˈju/, /-ˈjoʊ/

Noun

merveilleux (plural merveilleux, feminine merveilleuse)

1. (historical) Contemporary names for an extravagantly dressed French fop or ‘fine lady’ of the period of the Directory (1795–1799), who affected a revival of the classical costume of Ancient Greece.
   • 1892 October 19, The Daily News, page 5/1:

     The ‘merveilleuse’ of the Directory in France. The ‘merveilleuse’, or ‘ultra-fashionable’, as the writer..rather inadequately translates her title, ‘walked..half naked in the Champs Elysees’.

   • 1898, Octave Uzanne, chapter I, in Mary Loyd, transl., Fashion in Paris: The Various Phases of Feminine Taste and Æsthetics from 1797 to 1897, page 8:

     The Ecrouelleux, the Inconcevables, the Merveilleux, with their chins sunk in their huge cravats.

   • ibidem, page 19:

     The Merveilleuses survived the Incroyables by a couple of years.

Translations

French fop during the Directory who affected ancient Greek classical costume

References

• “‖Merveilleux, -euse” on page 365/1 of § 1 (M; edited by Henry Bradley) of part ii (M–N) of volume VI (L–N; 1st ed., 1908) of A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles
• “‖merveilleux, -euse” in the Oxford English Dictionary (2nd ed., 1989)

Further reading

• Incroyables and Merveilleuses on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

From merveille +‎ -eux.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛʁ.vɛ.jø/, /mɛʁ.ve.jø/

• audio

  (file)

Adjective

merveilleux (feminine merveilleuse, masculine plural merveilleux, feminine plural merveilleuses)

1. marvelous, brilliant

Derived terms

• merveilleusement

Descendants

• English: merveilleux

Further reading

• “merveilleux”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle French

Etymology

Old French merveillos, etc.

Noun

merveilleux m (feminine singular merveilleuse, masculine plural merveilleux, feminine plural merveilleuses)

1. marvelous; brilliant, etc.

Descendants

• French: merveilleux

References

• merveilleux on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)