α. 1700s– gentleman's club.
β. 1700s gentlemens club, 1700s– gentlemen's club.
gentlemen's clubn.
/ˈdʒɛntlmənz ˌklʌb/, U.S. /ˈdʒɛn(t)əlmənz ˌkləb/ 1. A private social club for men (traditionally men of high social status); the premises of such a club, typically containing a formal dining room, a bar, and various other rooms for socializing, reading, etc.The first clubs of this type were founded in the 18th cent., esp. in the West End of London; in the 19th cent. many more were established, and they were a significant feature of the social and political lives of the gentry at that time.In earliest use not a fixed collocation.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > golf > equipment > [noun] > club > types of club
play club1685
putting club1690
gentlemen's club1709
putter1783
spoon1790
iron1793
sand-iron1796
whip-club1808
cleek1829
driving putter1833
bunker-iron1857
driver1857
niblick1857
putting iron1857
baffing-spoon1858
mid-spoon1858
short spoon1858
sand-club1873
three-wood1875
long iron1877
driving cleek1881
mashie1881
putting cleek1881
track-iron1883
driving iron1887
lofting-iron1887
baffy1888
brassy1888
bulger1889
lofter1889
lofter1892
jigger1893
driving mashie1894
mid-iron1897
mashie-niblick1907
wood1915
pinsplitter1916
chipper1921
blaster1937
sand-wedge1937
wedge1937
1709 E. Ward Secret Hist. Clubs xx. 202 ‘Let us constitute a Meeting once a Week in this very House... We should assume some certain Denomination’... One would have it the Gentleman's Club, another the Traveller's Club.
1780 A. Young Tour Ireland i. 4 They have..two gentlemens clubs, Anthry's and Daly's, very well regulated.
1863 C. Dickens Uncommerc. Traveller in All Year Round 15 Aug. 589/1 Gentlemen's clubs were once maintained for purposes of savage party warfare; working men's clubs of the same day assumed the same character. Gentlemen's clubs became places of quiet inoffensive recreation; working men's clubs began to follow suit.
1989 Washington Post 17 Feb. 65/2 The gentlemen's club atmosphere of the Fairfax Lounge, with its paneled walls, is enhanced by its prints of polo players and clipper ships.
2002 Daily Mail (Nexis) 14 May 39 Sir Anthony..celebrated his birthday with a champagne bash at Boodle's, the St James's gentlemen's club.
2. euphemistic. A nightclub (esp. one designed to appeal to affluent men) featuring erotic dancing, striptease performances, etc.
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society > leisure > entertainment > place of amusement or entertainment > [noun] > striptease establishment
strip joint1951
peep joint1960
strip club1960
gentlemen's club1974
1974 Guardian 14 Dec. 16/1 (advt.) The Gaslight A Gentlemen's Club... Live Tantalising Cabaret... Topless Barmaids.
1994 N.Y. Mag. 22 Aug. 25/1 Trash now lurks in an upscale guise at the euphemistic ‘gentlemen's clubs’—joints with a dress code for customers and an undress code for employees.
2014 New Yorker 3 Nov. 92/1 She paused in front of Lace, a cavernous ‘gentleman's club’ on Seventh Avenue. ‘A titty bar!’ she exclaimed loudly.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2021; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1709