peacock alley
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.30 in modern English
25
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Any of a number of specific named hotel foyers, first and most notably that of the Waldorf–Astoria in New York City.
noun
Any hotel foyer or similar area where upper-class women congregate in order to be seen.
American usage
noun
Alternative letter-case form of Peacock Alley.
Example Sentences
- "I supposed he would want to go down with as little ostentation as possible, so took him by the elevator which enters the dining-room without passing through the long corridor known as "Peacock Alley", because of its being a favorite place for handsomely dressed fashionables of the national capital."
- "She had on a light-blue dress—one of those soft filmy things—with slippers and stockings to match—there was a lace wrap over her shoulders, shiny gimcracks in her hair, and rings on all her fingers—a little piece of Peacock Alley dropped down in the Hooper House,"
- "There was a lot of fool humbuggery about these plutocratic hang-outs, with their "peacock alleys" where women strutted to show their clothes,"
- "To understand the new theatre audiences in New York, you need only stroll through the great hotels about dinner time. The very character of those who lounge in the Peacock Alleys and the glittering foyers has changed."
Etymology
The main corridor connecting the two buildings comprising the Waldorf–Astoria was given this nickname by the press in New York City in reference to wealthy patrons (especially women) who would go there to show off their finery (compare peacock (“strut proudly”)). The name then came to refer generically to the foyer of any such upper-class hotel, or similar gathering place. First appears c. 1904 in Real New York by Rupert Hughes.
Usage
- American usage