Etymology
Portrait einer Dame mit Maske (
Portrait of a Woman with a Mask, 19th century), an
anonymous painting depicting a woman with a prominent beauty spot
(sense 1.2) on the right side of her face.
From beauty (noun) + spot (noun). Some uses of sense 1 (“thing which is beautiful”) are figurative uses of sense 1.2 (“patch on the face to heighten beauty”).[1]
Noun
beauty spot (plural beauty spots)
- (archaic) A thing (especially an aspect of something) which is beautiful.
1682, John Bunyan, “[Diabolus has No Conscience to God, nor Love to Mansoul]”, in The Holy War, Made by Shaddai upon Diabolus, for the Regaining of the Metropolis of the World. […], London: […] Dorman Newman […]; and Benjamin Alsop […], →OCLC, pages 129–130:But if righteounſeſs be ſuch a beauty-ſpot in thine eyes novv, hovv is it that vvickedneſs vvas ſo cloſely ſtuck to by thee before.
1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XXI. Mr. Lovelace, to John Belford, Esq.”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume IV, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; […], →OCLC, page 242:I need not deſcribe to thee her hand and arm. VVhen thou ſavveſt her, I took notice that thy eyes dvvelt upon them, vvhenever thou couldſt ſpare them from that beauty-ſpot of vvonders, her face.
- A natural mark on a person's skin, especially a freckle or mole on a woman's face.
- Synonym: beauty mark
- (cosmetics, historical) A patch or spot drawn or placed on the face in order to heighten beauty.
- Synonyms: beauty mark, mouche
1701, Nehemiah Grew, “Of the Ends of Providence. And First, in this Life.”, in Cosmologia Sacra: Or A Discourse of the Universe as It is the Creature and Kingdom of God. […], London: […] W[illiam] Rogers, S[amuel] Smith, and B[enjamin] Walford: […], →OCLC, 3rd book, paragraph 49, page 102:The Deformity, and Filthyneſs of Svvine, make them the Beauty-ſpot of the Animal Creation, and the Emblem of all Vice.
- (ornithology, archaic) Synonym of speculum (“a bright, lustrous patch of colour found on the wings of ducks and some other birds, usually situated on the distal portions of the secondary quills, and much more brilliant in the adult male than in the female”)
- (chiefly British) A place noted for its beauty, especially its natural scenery.
[1879], Christina G[eorgina] Rossetti, “Mountains and Hills”, in Seek and Find: A Double Series of Short Studies of the Benedicte. […], London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge […]; New York, N.Y.: Pott, Young, & Co., →OCLC, 1st series (Creation), page 91:Moreover they [mountains] bestow necessaries not in mere naked sufficiency, but in forms which make hill-streams and waterfalls rank among the beauty-spots of this beautiful world: […]
Translations
thing (especially an aspect of something) which is beautiful
- Finnish: kauneuspilkku (figuratively)
- Macedonian: please add this translation if you can
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natural mark on a person’s skin, especially a freckle or mole on a woman’s face
patch or spot drawn or placed on the face in order to heighten beauty
- Finnish: kauneuspilkku
- Macedonian: please add this translation if you can
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place noted for its beauty, especially its natural scenery
- Finnish: luonnonnähtävyys
- Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: سەیرانگا (ckb) (seyranga)
- Northern Kurdish: seyrangeh (ku)
- Southern Kurdish: سەێرانگا (seÿranga)
- Macedonian: please add this translation if you can
- Manx: ard aalin m, boayl aalin m
- Polish: zakątek (pl) m
- Vietnamese: thắng cảnh (vi)
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