Beau vs Neil - What's the difference?
beau | neil |
(dated) A man with a reputation for fine dress and etiquette; a dandy or fop.
* 1811 , Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility , chapter 21
(dated) A male lover; a boyfriend.
* 1917 , Kate Douglas Wiggin, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm , p. 142:
* 2009 , Philippa Bourke, Monsters and Critics [http://www.monstersandcritics.com/people/news/article_1518335.php/Kristin-Davis-takes-cover-on-beach-with-beau#ixzz0ZRsqa5SS], Dec 10, 2009:
A male escort.
As a proper noun beau
is (male) used since mid-twentieth century.As a noun neil is
.beau
English
Noun
(en-noun)- “I do not comprehend the meaning of the word. But this I can say, that if he ever was a beau before he married, he is one still, for there is not the smallest alteration in him.”
- “Oh! dear! one never thinks of married mens’(SIC) being beaux —they have something else to do.”
- Hannah's beau takes all her time 'n' thought, and when she gits a husband her mother'll be out o' sight and out o' mind.
- Kristin Davis has taken time out to enjoy the surf and sand with her Australian beau , photographer Russell James.