grande horizontale

English

Etymology

From French grande horizontale.

Noun

grande horizontale (plural grandes horizontales)

1. A high-status prostitute; a courtesan.
   • 1990, Angela Carter, “Barry Paris: Louise Brooks”, in Shaking a Leg, Vintage, published 2013, page 477:

     The dedicated dancer, moved by some ‘inner vision’ that Martha Graham, for one, saw in her, was now well on the way to becoming a grande horizontale.

   • 2014, Stephen Clarke, Dirty Bertie, page 148:

     During at least one of his trips to Paris between 1867 and 1870, Bertie went to visit the grande horizontale La Païva at number 25, Champs Élysées, a magnificent building that has survived to the modern day and now houses a restaurant on its ground floor.

   • 2015 December 7, Jane Shilling, The Telegraph:

     For even the grandest of grandes horizontales, respectability was a luxury that remained tantalisingly out of reach.