polite society
English
Noun
- The elite or upper crust of society.
- 1803, Maria Edgeworth, The Manufacturers:
- [H]e had been brought up in an extravagant family, who considered tradesmen and manufacturers as a caste disgraceful to polite society.
- 1863, William Makepeace Thackeray, Roundabout Papers:
- [I]n the midst of the company assembled the reader's humble servant was present, and in a very polite society, too, of "poets, clergymen, men of letters, and members of both Houses of Parliament."
- 1873, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, chapter VI, in The Parisians, book IX:
- […] a club especially favoured by wits, authors, and the flaneurs of polite society.
- That portion of society that is especially concerned with etiquette, proper behavior, and politeness.
- 1892, F. Marion Crawford, chapter 14, in Pietro Ghisleri:
- [S]he managed with considerable effort to keep up a sufficient outward semblance of mourning to satisfy the customs and fashions of polite society.
- 1909, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 6, in The Gem Collector:
- Scenes, Lady Jane had explained—on the occasion of his knocking down an objectionable cabman during their honeymoon trip—were of all things what polite society most resolutely abhorred.
Translations
elite or upper crust of society
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portion of society concerned with etiquette and proper behavior
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References
- “polite society”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
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