man about town

See also:man-about-town

English

Alternative forms

• man-about-town

Etymology

(Thisetymologyis missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at theEtymology scriptorium.)

Noun

manabouttown(pluralmen about town)

1. Aworldly,socialman who frequentsfashionableplaces.

   Synonyms:boulevardier,flaneur

   Coordinate terms:bon vivant,dandy,socialite,woman about town

   • 1886,Punch‎^[1],volume91,page249:

     For in this quality of “clubbable,” and the value now put upon it, lies the whole secret of change in our fast men, mashers, andmen about town.

   • 1902,W. Somerset Maugham,Mrs Craddock,penguin Classics, published1992,→ISBN,page71:

     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 imaginaryman about townwhose dissipation she always opposed to her husband's virtues.

Translations

a worldly, social man who frequents fashionable places

• Italian:uomo di mondom
• Latin:scurram

Further reading

• “man about town”,inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022.