bal costumén.
/bal ˌkɒstᵿˈmeɪ/ A fancy-dress ball.
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society > leisure > dancing > ball or dance > [noun] > fancy dress
fancy ball1800
bal costumé1826
fancy dress ball1882
1826 M. Wilmot Let. 29 Feb. (1935) 234 Our Ambassadrice had plann'd to give a ball costume early in the Carnival.
1848 G. E. Jewsbury Let. 4 Oct. (1892) 256 Dandified ‘Church-of-Englandism’, which bears the same relation to ‘the Church’ that a polite assemblage of ladies and gentlemen at a ‘bal costumé’ bears to the countries after which they have dressed themselves.
1861 G. Du Maurier Let. [ Jan. ] in D. Du Maurier Young G. du M. (1951) 30 On the 14th there is going to be a grand bal costumé..—150 or 200 people.
1896 M. Beerbohm Dandies & Dandies in Wks. 20 The clinquant corslet of the Swiss girl just survives at bals costumés.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1972; most recently modified version published online December 2018).
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n.1826