a. A gentleman of polished manners and refined tastes. b. A gentleman of fashion, one who is distinguished for elegance and correct style in dress and habits of life; now usually in sarcastic use.
1732. Berkeley, Alciphr., I. § 11. They are the best bred Men of the Age, Men who know the World, Men of Pleasure, Men of Fashion, and fine Gentlemen.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 368. The wig came from Paris; and so did the rest of the fine gentleman’s ornaments, his embroidered coat, his fringed gloves, and the tassel which upheld his pantaloons.
1879. Froude, Cæsar, ix. 90. Fine gentlemen could once more lounge in their clubs, amuse themselves with their fishponds and horses and mistresses, devise new and ever new means of getting money and spending it, and leave the Roman Empire for the present to govern itself.
Hence Fine-gentlemanish a., foppish.
1865. Spectator, 29 April, 471/1. Some highly affected and fine-gentlemanish verbosity which we have not met before.
