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In the late Middle Ages many women wore a type of headdress—called a wimple in English—that surrounded the neck and head, leaving only the face uncovered. The word gorgias, from gorge, meaning “throat,” was the French name for the part of the headdress that covered the throat and shoulders. In time it also came to be used as a name for the entire garment. A beautiful headdress was so much the mark of a fashionable lady that Gorgias then became an adjective meaning “elegant” or “fond of dress.” Borrowed into English as gorgayse and then gorgeous, the word gradually took on the meaning of “beautiful” that it has today.
Synonyms
Examples of gorgeous in a Sentence
Corby Kummer, Atlantic, May 2001
In the Arlberg … my wife and I were taken to the most perfect dinner by an elderly Viennese couple and their gorgeous young daughter, whom we had met in Washington.
—Geoffrey Wolff, Granta, Autumn 1990
Banks of gorgeous flowers were on every hand, and birds with rare and brilliant plumage sang and fluttered in the trees and bushes.
—L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, 1900
Your baby is absolutely gorgeous!
sunsets in Hawaii are just gorgeous
Michelle Darrisaw, Southern Living, 11 Apr. 2024
Today, a vintage Ferrari with genuine racing heritage might fetch as much as $51.7 million—the hammer price of a gorgeous 1962 Ferrari 330 LM / 250 GTO by Scaglietti sold by RM Sothebys at auction in November 2023.
—Bob Sorokanich, Robb Report, 10 Apr. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Gorgeous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gorgeous. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
gorgeous
adjective
Middle English gorgeouse "very showy, splendid," from early French gorgias "elegant," from gorgias "headdress, wimple," from gorge "part of the wimple covering the throat, throat"
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