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beau - 5 dictionary results

beau

   [boh]
noun, plural beaus, beaux  [bohz] ,
verb
–noun
1. a frequent and attentive male companion.
2. a male escort for a girl or woman.
3. a dandy; fop.
–verb (used with object)
4. to escort (a girl or woman), as to a social gathering.
Origin:
1250–1300; ME < F < L bellus beautiful
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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Language Translation for : beau
Spanish: bonita, hermosa, guapa, German: schön, Japanese: 美しい
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beau     (bō)  Pronunciation Key 
n.   pl. beaus or beaux (bōz)
  1. The boyfriend of a woman or girl.
  2. A dandy; a fop.


[French, from beau, bel, handsome, from Latin bellus; see deu-2 in Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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beau 
"attendant suitor of a lady," 1720, from Fr. beau "the beautiful," n. use of adj., from O.Fr. bel, from L. bellus "handsome, fine," dim. of bonus "good." Meaning "man who attends excessively to dress, etiquette, etc.; a fop; a dandy" is 1687, short for Fr. beau garçon "pretty boy" (c.1665). Beaumonde "the fashionable world" is from 1714. Beau-ideal (1801) is from Fr. beau idéal "the ideal beauty, beautifulness as an abstract ideal," in which beau is the subject, but as Eng. usually puts the adj. first, the sense has shifted in Eng. toward "perfect type or model." Beaux arts "the fine arts" is 1821, from Fr.; also in reference to Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, and the widely imitated conventional type of art and architecture advocated there.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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beau

noun
1. a man who is the lover of a girl or young woman; "if I'd known he was her boyfriend I wouldn't have asked" [syn: boyfriend] 
2. a man who is much concerned with his dress and appearance [syn: dandy] 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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Beau

Beau\, n.; pl. F. Beaux (E. pron. b?z), E. Beaus. [F., a fop, fr. beau fine, beautiful, fr. L. bellus pretty, fine, for bonulus, dim. of bonus good. See Bounty, and cf. Belle, Beauty.]

1. A man who takes great care to dress in the latest fashion; a dandy.

2. A man who escorts, or pays attentions to, a lady; an escort; a lover.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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