Forms: 4– beau; 4 bieu, 4–5 beu, 6 beaw; also in comb. 5 baw-, be-, bew-; see BEAUSIRE. [a. late OF. beau, biau, earlier bel, beal, bial:—L. bellus fine, pretty. The adj., in ME. quite naturalized and pronounced as in beauty, Beaulieu (biū·li), has been long obs.: the sb. has been reintroduced from mod. Fr., whence its pronunciation.]
† A. adj. 1. Fair, beautiful. Obs.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., A. 197. Al blysnande whyt watz hir beau uiys.
1399. Langl., Rich. Redeless, III. 1. Now leue we þis beu brid.
2. Used in affection, friendship, or politeness, in addressing relations, friends, etc. (usually with their French titles): equal to the English ‘fair’ (fair sir), ‘good’ (good people), ‘dear’ (dear sir). With some words it entered into more or less permanent combination: see BEAUPERE, BEAUSIRE, and BEL-.
c. 1300. Beket, 1903. Beau frere, quath Seint Thomas, that ne mai ich do noȝt.
c. 1314. Guy Warw., 4. Bicus amis, molt gramerci!
1513. Douglas, Epilogue, to Eneid. Lo, this is all, bew schirris haue gude day!
B. sb. Pl. beaux, beaus.
1. A man who gives particular, or excessive, attention to dress, mien, and social etiquette; an exquisite, a fop, a dandy.
1687. T. Brown, Lib. Consc., in Dk. Buckhm’s Wks., 1705, II. 128. You’re a perfect Woman, nothing but a Beau will please you!
1700. Dryden, Cock & Fox, 624. What will not beaux attempt to please the fair?
1738. Birch, Life of Milton, in Wks., I. 20. Young Sparks of his Acquaintance … the Beaus of those Days.
1824. W. Irving, T. Trav., I. 341. The painted beau with … long, flimsy, sky-blue coat.
2. The attendant or suitor of a lady; a lover, sweetheart.
1720[?]. Mountford’s Elegy, in Collect. Poems, 43. No Lady henceforth can be safe with her Beau.
a. 1777. Goldsm., Doubl. Transform., 87. Her country beaux and city cousins, Lovers no more, flew off by dozens.
a. 1845. Hood, Number One, 1. It’s very hard … that every Miss But me has got a Beau.
1875. B. Taylor, Faust, I. x. 130. If not a husband, then a beau for you!
