beauty
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English bewty, bewte, beaute, bealte, from Anglo-Norman and Old French beauté (early Old French spelling biauté), from Vulgar Latin *bellitās (“beauty”), from Latin bellus (“beautiful, fair”); see beau. In this sense, mostly displaced native Old English fæġernes, whence Modern English fairness.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
beauty (countable and uncountable, plural beauties)
- 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 1467112, 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.
- 1887, H. Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure[1]:
- `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, The House Behind the Cedars, Chapter I,
- 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
- Someone who is beautiful.
- Brigitte Bardot was a renowned beauty.
- Something that is particularly good or pleasing.
- What a goal! That was a real beauty!
- An excellent or egregious example of something.
- He got into a fight and ended up with two black eyes – two real beauties!
- (with the definite article) The excellence or genius of a scheme or decision.
- The beauty of the deal is it costs nothing!
- (physics, obsolete) A beauty quark (now called bottom quark).
- Beauty treatment; cosmetology.
- (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 956524510, 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.
- (archaic, in the plural) Beautiful passages or extracts of poetry.
Usage notes[edit]
- 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.
Synonyms[edit]
- (property, quality): good-lookingness, gorgeousness, inspiration, loveliness, see Thesaurus:beauty
- (someone who is beautiful): belle, looker, good looker, see Thesaurus:beautiful person or Thesaurus:beautiful woman
- (something pleasing): gem, jewel
Antonyms[edit]
- (property, quality): repulsiveness, homeliness, ugliness
Derived terms[edit]
- age before beauty
- bathing beauty
- beaut
- beauteous
- beautician
- beautifiable
- beautification
- beautifier
- beautiful
- beautifully
- beautifulness
- beautify
- beautiless
- beautility
- beautisome
- beautyberry
- beautybush
- beauty contest
- beautydom
- beautyhood
- beauty is in the eye of the beholder
- beauty is only skin deep
- beauty mark
- beauty pageant
- beauty parlor
- beauty quark
- beauty queen
- beauty salon
- beauty school
- beauty shop
- beauty sleep
- beauty spot
- bewdy
- Camberwell beauty
- line of beauty
- painted beauty
- Rutland beauty
- Sleeping Beauty
- spring beauty
Descendants[edit]
- → Cebuano: byuti
Translations[edit]
quality of pleasing appearance
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someone beautiful: male
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someone beautiful: female
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something particularly good or pleasing
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excellent or egregious example of something
excellence or genius
beauty quark — see bottom quark
beauty treatment — see cosmetology
prevailing style or taste
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beautiful passages or extracts of poetry
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
See also[edit]
Interjection[edit]
beauty
Adjective[edit]
beauty (comparative more beauty, superlative most beauty)
- (Canada) Of high quality, well done.
- He made a beauty pass through the neutral zone.
Verb[edit]
beauty (third-person singular simple present beauties, present participle beautying, simple past and past participle beautied)
- (obsolete, transitive) To make beautiful.
Further reading[edit]
- “beauty” in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- “beauty” in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
Dutch[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
beauty f (plural beauty's, diminutive beauty'tje n)
- A beauty, looker, beautiful person
- 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
- Human beauty, as the object or goal of cosmetics etc.
Synonyms[edit]
- schoonheid
- (beautiful thing only): juweeltje n, prachtexemplaar n
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