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Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
pretty-boy

1885 as an adjective, 1888 as a noun, from pretty (adj.) + boy (n.). In Middle English a pretty man was "a worthy or clever fellow."

Usage examples of "pretty-boy".

The Guards may be pretty-boy soldiers, but the buggers can fight when they have to.

Cherubic features moulded into a satanic complexion - a desert of flaked, crumbling skin relieved only by oases of dermatitic pimplery : like the scummy death-mask of Troy Donahue, Peter McEnery, or some other noted pretty-boy.

Most of them are pretty-boy types, which the girls may swoon over but which any solid male bellied up to a bar can instantly dismiss with a sneer.