[a. F. beau idéal the ideal Beautiful, ‘the Beautiful’ as an abstract conception; beau being the sb., and idéal the adj. But in Eng., where the adj. usually precedes the sb., there has been a tendency to take ideal as the sb. part, whence the current usage; cf. IDEAL.]
† 1. The ideal Beautiful; the Beautiful, or beauty, in its ideal perfection. Obs.
1801. Mar. Edgeworth, Belinda, xix. (D.). The image which they have in their own minds of the beau ideal is cast upon the first objects they afterwards behold.
2. The highest conceived or conceivable type of beauty or excellence of any kind; that in which one’s ‘ideal’ is realized, the perfect type or model.
1820. W. Irving, Sketch-Bk., John Bull (D.). Wonderfully captivated with the beau idéal which they have formed of John Bull.
1827. Gent. Mag., XCVII. II. 516. The beau ideal of manly beauty.
1854. H. Miller, Sch. & Schm., xxii. 231. The Highlanders came to regard him as the very beau-idéal of a minister.
