Beauty Sleep Was Not Always a Joke
Beauty is the quality that pleases the senses. The phrase beauty sleep once referred specifically to the hours before midnight.
Beauty is the quality in something that gives pleasure to the senses or the mind. The phrase *beauty sleep* was once precise: the hours before midnight were held to be the restorative ones, and Victorian advice books urged early bedtimes on that basis. Modern sleep science has no such rule, though the phrase survives intact.
- The quality of pleasing the senses. *Natural beauty.*
- A beautiful person or thing. *She was a beauty.*
- An excellent example. *That goal was a beauty.*
- An advantage. *The beauty of it is the simplicity.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | beauty | Great beauty. |
| Plural | beauties | Local beauties. |
| Adjective | beautiful | A beautiful voice. |
| Adverb | beautifully | Beautifully made. |
| Verb | beautify | Beautify the square. |
How it is used in a sentence
- Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.The phrase dates from the nineteenth century in this form.
- The beauty of the plan is its cost.Advantage.
- That is a beauty of a catch.An excellent example.
Beauty phrases
- Beauty sleep — once meant the hours before midnight
- Beauty is in the eye of the beholder — taste is personal
- Beauty spot — a scenic place, or a small dark mark on the skin
- Beauty is only skin deep — appearance is superficial
- The beast — the traditional pairing in the fairy tale
From Old French *biauté*, from Latin *bellus*, fine or handsome — the same root as *belle*, *embellish* and *beau*.
Is sleep before midnight better?
There is no evidence for that specific rule. Total sleep length and regularity matter far more than the hour you start.
Who said beauty is in the eye of the beholder?
The modern phrasing is credited to Margaret Wolfe Hungerford in 1878, though similar ideas appear much earlier.