‖ faux pas
(fo pɑ)
[Fr. faux false + pas step.]
A false step, fig.; a slip, a trip; an act which compromises one's reputation, esp. a woman's lapse from virtue. Cf. false step in false a. 6.
| 1676 Wycherley Pl. Dealer v. i, Before this faux pas, this trip of mine, the world could not talk of me. 1762 Foote Lyar i. Wks. 1799 I. 288 A firework..well designed? Sir J. Superb. Y. Wild. And happily executed? Sir J. Not a single faux pas. 1763 Brit. Mag. IV. 350 Terræ Filius..taxes them with any faux-pas, or irregularities, they may have committed. 1823 Byron Juan xiv. lx, Foreigners don't know that a faux pas In England ranks quite on a different list. 1840 Barham Ingol. Leg., Acc. New Play, His Lordship..Conceiv'd that his daughter had made a faux pas. |