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.