the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest).
2.
a beautiful person, esp. a woman.
3.
a beautiful thing, as a work of art or a building.
4.
Often, beauties.something that is beautiful in nature or in some natural or artificial environment.
5.
an individually pleasing or beautiful quality; grace; charm: a vivid blue area that is the one real beauty of the painting.
6.
Informal. a particular advantage: One of the beauties of this medicine is the freedom from aftereffects.
7.
(usually used ironically) something extraordinary: My sunburn was a real beauty.
8.
something excellent of its kind: My old car was a beauty.
[Origin: 1225–75; ME be(a)ute < OF beaute; r. ME bealte < OF beltet < VL *bellitāt- (s. of *bellitās), equiv. to L bell(us) fine + -itāt--ity]
The quality that gives pleasure to the mind or senses and is associated with such properties as harmony of form or color, excellence of artistry, truthfulness, and originality.
One that is beautiful, especially a beautiful woman.
A quality or feature that is most effective, gratifying, or telling: The beauty of the venture is that we stand to lose nothing.
An outstanding or conspicuous example: "Hammett's gun went off. The shot was a beauty, just slightly behind the eyes"(Lillian Hellman).
[Middle English beaute, from Old French biaute, from Vulgar Latin *bellitās, from Latin bellus, pretty; see deu-2 in Indo-European roots.]
c.1275, from Anglo-Norm. beute, from O.Fr. bealte, earlier beltet, from V.L. bellitatem "state of being handsome," from L. bellus "fine, beautiful," in classical L. used especially of women and children, or ironically or insultingly of men. Famously defined by Stendhal as la promesse de bonheur "the promise of happiness." Replaced O.E. wlite. Concrete meaning "a beautiful woman" is first recorded 1483. Abbreviated form beaut "a beautiful thing or person" is from 1866. Beauteous, now limited to poetry, is attested earlier (1440) than beautiful (1526). Beautician first recorded 1924, Amer.Eng. (the Cleveland, Ohio, telephone directory, to be precise); beauty salon is from 1922, a classier substitution for earlier beauty shop (1901). Beauty sleep "sleep before midnight" is attested by 1850. Beautiful people "the fashionable set" first attested 1964.
Salix-Beauty Line Park, PA (CDP, FIPS 67611) Location: 40.29848 N, 78.75943 W Population (1990): 1257 (443 housing units) Area: 2.5 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
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.
Beau"ty\, n.; pl. Beauties . [OE. beaute, beute, OF. beaut['e], biaut['e], Pr. beltat, F. beaut['e], fr. an assumed LL. bellitas, from L. bellus pretty. See Beau.]1. An assemblage or graces or properties pleasing to the eye, the ear, the intellect, the [ae]sthetic faculty, or the moral sense. Beauty consists of a certain composition of color and figure, causing delight in the beholder. --Locke. The production of beauty by a multiplicity of symmetrical parts uniting in a consistent whole. --Wordsworth. The old definition of beauty, in the Roman school, was, "multitude in unity;" and there is no doubt that such is the principle of beauty. --Coleridge. 2. A particular grace, feature, ornament, or excellence; anything beautiful; as, the beauties of nature. 3. A beautiful person, esp. a beautiful woman. All the admired beauties of Verona. --Shak. 4. Prevailing style or taste; rage; fashion. [Obs.] She stained her hair yellow, which was then the beauty. --Jer. Taylor. Beauty spot, a patch or spot placed on the face with intent to heighten beauty by contrast.
Em*bel"lish\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Embellished; p. pr. & vb. n. Embellishing.] [OE. embelisen, embelisshen, F. embellir; pref. em- (L. in) + bel, beau, beautiful. See Beauty.] To make beautiful or elegant by ornaments; to decorate; to adorn; as, to embellish a book with pictures, a garden with shrubs and flowers, a narrative with striking anecdotes, or style with metaphors. Syn: To adorn; beautify; deck; bedeck; decorate; garnish; enrich; ornament; illustrate. See Adorn.
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