beaux esprits

American  

[boh zes-pree] / boʊ zɛsˈpri /

Sometimes beaux-esprits

noun

French.

1. plural of bel esprit.

   In an era ironically called the Enlightenment, these young women were discouraged from becoming beaux esprits.

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Etymology

Origin of beaux esprits

First recorded in 1630–40; bel esprit ( def. )

Example Sentences

German philosophers, would-be philosophers, and beaux esprits, eagerly seized on this literature, only forgetting, that when these writings immigrated from France into Germany, French social conditions had not immigrated along with them.

From The Communist Manifesto by Marx, Karl

Sir Walter Raleigh, previously to his unfortunate engagement with the wretched Cobham and others, had instituted a meeting of beaux esprits at the 'Mermaid,' a celebrated tavern in Friday Street.

From Old and New London Volume I by Thornbury, Walter

Besides these, certain beaux esprits of Prague, among them W. Marsano, a strikingly handsome and charming man, were frequent visitors at our house.

From My Life — Volume 1 by Wagner, Richard

It was a sort of academy of beaux esprits, of gallantry, of virtue, and of science," says St. Simon; "for these things accorded marvelously.

From The Women of the French Salons by Mason, Amelia Ruth Gere

Algaro`tti, Francesco, a clever Italian author, born at Venice, whom, for his wit, Frederick the Great was attached to and patronised, "one of the first beaux esprits of the age," according to Wilhelmina, Frederick's sister.

From The Nuttall Encyclopædia Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge by Nuttall, P. Austin