man about town en · NOUN
Meanings
-
(idiomatic) A worldly, social man who frequents fashionable places.
For in this quality of “clubbable,” and the value now put upon it, lies the whole secret of change in our fast men, mashers, and men about town.
1886, Punch, volume 91, page 249:To Bertha this was a charm rather than a defect; his bashful candour touched her, and she compared it favourably with the foolish worldliness of the imaginary man about town whose dissipation she always opposed to her husband's virtues.
1902, W. Somerset Maugham, Mrs Craddock, penguin Classics, published 1992, →ISBN, page 71:I'm very much the man about town.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| men about town | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| man-about-town | alternative | lexicographic |
Coordinates
socialite · woman about town · bon vivant · dandy
Synonyms
sybarite · boulevardier · pleasurist · softling · flaneur · lotus-eater · voluptuary · high-stepper · epicure · bon viveur · hedonist · epicurean · sensualist · pleasure seeker · lapling · voluptuarian
Translations (3)
it uomo di mondo (a worldly, social man who frequents fashionable places) · la scurra (a worldly, social man who frequents fashionable places) · pl lew salonowy (a worldly, social man who frequents fashionable places)