English Dictionary

demimonde

/ˈdɛmiːmɒnd/

noun

(chiefly historical (19th-century France)) A class of women maintained by wealthy protectors; female courtesans or prostitutes as a group. / (by extension) A group having little respect or reputation.

She was a prominent figure in the demimonde of Paris.

意味（1）

(chiefly historical (19th-century France)) A class of women maintained by wealthy protectors; female courtesans or prostitutes as a group.

A most remarkable instance of this was afforded in the play of Camille by the performance of the supper-scene. The stage in this scene is supposed to represent a supper-room, enlivened by the presence of a party of young Parisians, more gay, indeed, than respectable, but still Parisians, and Parisians of the demimonde, which, of the two halves that go to make up the whole of the monde, preserves the hemisphere of manners while it throws away the hemisphere of decorum.

意味（2）

(by extension) A group having little respect or reputation.

the literary demimonde

意味（3）

(by extension) A member of such a class or group of persons.

Those who seek pleasure in a round of dances and fashionable frolic, where the german and the horse-race, the card-table and the drive, are the order of the day, will gather to the sea side and the spa; they will seek Newport, the maelstrom of money; or Long Branch with its broiling sun and its retinue of demimondes and stuck-up-ities; […]