Definition of "beau monde" [beau• monde]

• The world of fashionable society. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The beau monde dressed itself “à la Watteau,” the salons and boudoirs of Paris were appointed “à la Watteau,” and young ladies and gentlemen adopted a carriage and pose “à la Watteau.”"
• "Shabby and small as the place was, it was filled with all the beau monde of Cotham, which then, patronized by royalty, rivalled even Bath in its fashion and folly."