name
Meaning 1
A male given name used since mid-twentieth century.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
beau
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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UK: /bəʊ/
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General-American: /boʊ/
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rhymes with -əʊ
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Received-Pronunciation: /ˈbəʊ̯/
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Received-Pronunciation: [ˈbəʊ̯]
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Received-Pronunciation: /ˈbɵʊ̯/
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Received-Pronunciation: [ˈbɵ̞ʊ̯]
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UK: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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General-American: /ˈboʊ̯/
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General-American: [ˈboʊ̯]
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General-American: /ˈbɔʊ̯/
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General-American: [ˈbɔʊ̯]
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homophone: bo
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homophone: bow
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CMU ARPABET: B OW1 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
A man with a reputation for fine dress and etiquette; a dandy or fop.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: dated
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: blood, popinjay, barbermonger, beau, blade, buck, carpet knight, cockscomb, dandy, dike, dood, dude, dudelet, exquisite, fashionable, fast man, fine gentleman, fop, foretop, fribble, gallant, go, jack-a-dandy, Jemmy-Jessamy, jetter, macaroni, masher, metrosexual, mignon, petit maître, pretty boy, prig, puss-gentleman, smart, spark, spiff, swell, tippy, toff
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
A male lover; a boyfriend.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Canada, US, dated
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: suitor, swain, admirer, adorer, baby, beloved, courter, crush, darling, enamorado, flame, follower, leman, loteby, love, love interest, lover, paramour, sparker, sweetheart, truelove, wooer
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
A male escort.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: callboy, party boy, abandons, alley cat, almah, bangtail, Bankside lady, bargirl, bat, beotch, blouze, blowen, blowsabella, brass nail, brasser, brass, broad, business girl, calico queen, callet, cat, chippy, chromo, coaster, cockatrice, cocotte, comfort girl, comfort woman, commoner, Covent Garden nun, creature of the night, croshabell, daughter of joy, dollymop, doxy, drab, Dutch widow, escort, fille de joie, flap, floozie, fornicatrix, frail sister, Fulham virgin, gamester, gay lady, geebag, gillian, gill, girl of the game, girl rented overnight, good-time girl, GRO, hackney, harlot, Haymarket ware, hireling, 'ho, hoer, hoe, hook, hooker, hustler, Japayuki-san, jay, karayuki-san, laced mutton, lady of leisure, lady of light virtue, lady of pleasure, lady of the evening, lady of the game, lady of the night, lightskirt, loose woman, meat puppet, mermaid, minx, mob, moll, mort wap-apace, mot, mud kicker, mud-kicker, mudkicker, musk cat, mutton, nun, nymph of darkness, nymph of the pavé, nymph of the pavement, painted lady, Paphian, party girl, pavement princess, perdita, pimpette, pretty horsebreaker, priestess of Venus, pro skirt, prossie, prossy, pross, prostie, prostitute, prostitutor, prosty, prozzie, prozzy, pro, public woman, pucelle, puella publica, pug, punk, pussygirl, puta, put, quail, quean, quene, quiff, ribibe, scrubber, sex labourer, sex worker, skainsmate, skivvy, slag, slapper, slit, slut, sodomitess, soiled dove, stem siren, stew, street taco, strumpet, succubus, tart, tawaif, thotty, thot, tib, tom, treddle, trick turner, trollop, trug, trull, tweak, vice girl, wanton, wapping dell, wapping moll, wapping mort, wench, whore, woman of easy virtue, woman of ill fame, woman of ill repute, woman of the night, woman of the street, woman of the town, working girl
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
A suitor of a lady.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: courter, sparker, wooer
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 6
To act as a beau (towards); to court or woo.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: ambitransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: put the moves on, romance, address, beau, bedear, chase after, court, endear, make a move (on), make love, pitch woo, solicit, spark, woo
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 7
a man who is the lover of a girl or young woman
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- if I'd known he was her boyfriend I wouldn't have asked
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: boyfriend, fellow, swain, young man
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: lover, man, adult male
noun
Meaning 8
a man who is much concerned with his dress and appearance
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: dandy, dude, fop, gallant, sheik, swell, fashion plate, clotheshorse
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: man, adult male
Narrower terms: coxcomb, cockscomb, macaroni, Brummell, George Bryan Brummell, Beau Brummell
History
Etymology
Shortened from surname type given names such as Beauregard or Beaumont, or from the French word beau.
From Middle English beau, beu, bew, bewe, from Old French beau, from Latin bellus (“beautiful”). Doublet of bello and boo.
Across languages
Translations
15 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: конте (konte) — dandy
- Bulgarian: франт (frant) — dandy
- Czech: švihák — dandy
- Finnish: keikari — dandy
- Finnish: hienostelija — dandy
- German: Beau — dandy
- Hungarian: piperkőc — dandy
- Irish: gaige — dandy
- Latin: formaster — dandy
- Macedonian: ко́нте (kónte) — dandy
- Polish: dandys — dandy
- Russian: де́нди (dɛ́ndi) — dandy
- Russian: франт (frant) — dandy
- Russian: щёголь (ščógolʹ) — dandy
- Ottoman Turkish: هوپپا (hoppa) — dandy