Her beaux between marriage generally fell into two categories: ineffectual pretty boys or handsome brutes.—Joanne Kaufman, People, 21 Mar. 1988This was essentially the vehicle that had been perfected, through more than a century or two, for—and by—a continuing line of fops, beaux, macaronis, dudes, bucks, blades, swells, bloods and mashers.—Osbert Sitwell, The Scarlet Tree, 1975
She introduced us to her latest beau.
her new beau brought flowers when he picked her up for their first date
Recent Examples on the WebIf playing the ingenue has an expiration date, so, too, does inhabiting the boyish beau.—Lisa Kennedy, Variety, 14 Mar. 2024 The divisive series finale concluded with protagonist Sookie Stackhouse saying goodbye to her on-again, off-again vampire beau Bill Compton, while her other undead romantic interest Eric Northman became the face of a successful new blood product.—Jessica Wang, EW.com, 13 Mar. 2024 Earlier this year, the actress also accompanied her beau to the 2024 Grammys, among other events.—Sadie Bell, Peoplemag, 11 Mar. 2024 The celebrated actress recently stepped out with her new beau, Jonathan Majors, to grace the red carpet at the 7th annual African-American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) Special Achievement Awards Luncheon in Los Angeles.—Dominique Fluker, Essence, 8 Mar. 2024 Noah also talked about how Swift is being treated by some NFL fans upset she’s shown during football games cheering on her Kansas City Chiefs beau Travis Kelce.—Kelli Skye Fadroski, Orange County Register, 4 Feb. 2024 When her son, Julien, blabbed about Debbie’s crazy, on-screen breakup with her new beau, the Georgia native admitted to holding some indignity over the 43-year age gap relationship.—Kelly Wynne, Peoplemag, 5 Mar. 2024 Her beau Bill Hader, who is also nominated for a SAG Award for his work on Barry, has so far accompanied her on her winning streak.—Sam Reed, Glamour, 25 Feb. 2024 Simply by falling in love, Swift is helping her beau work his way toward media mogul status.—Hugh McIntyre, Forbes, 22 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'beau.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
borrowed from French, from beau, bel (masculine), belle (feminine) "beautiful, good-looking," going back to Old French bel, going back to Latin bellus, probably going back (via *duellos, assimilated from *duenlos) to *dwenelos, diminutive of *dwe-nos "good" (whence Old Latin duenos, Latin bonus) — more at bounty
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