| 释义 |
‖ bel-esprit|bɛlɛspri|
Pl. beaux esprits |bozɛspri|.
[Fr.; = ‘fine mind, wit, wittiness’; hence ‘a man of culture and talent.’]
1. A clever genius, a brilliant wit.
1638Chillingw. Relig. Prot. i. Pref. §8 Which I feare is a great scandall to many Beaux Esprits among you. 1721Amherst Terræ Fil. xxv. 129 The finest geniuses and beaux esprits of the university. 1801M. Edgeworth Belinda I. iii. 44 The world thought me a beauty and a bel esprit. 1813― Patron. I. xiv. 228 One could hand her verses about, and get her forward in the bel-esprit line.
2. Wit, wittiness. (Hardly in Eng. use.)
1806M. Edgeworth Leonora II. lxv. 107 In these times a woman has no choice at a certain period but politics, or bel esprit. 1860Adler Fauriel's Prov. Poetry xviii. 401 The mannered subtilties of a vitiated taste and of bel-esprit. |