Strephon

plural Strephons

1. literaryA male given name from Ancient Greek.

   To see her from her pillow rise, All reeking in a cloudy steam, Crack'd lips, foul teeth, and gummy eyes,

   1719, Jonathan Swift, The progress of Beauty

   1 more example

   As when two doves, or two wood-pigeons, or as when Strephon and Phyllis (for that comes nearest to the mark) are retired into some pleasant solitary grove, to enjoy the delightful conversation of Love[…]

   1749, Henry Fielding, chapter IX, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VI

plural Strephons

1. literaryA male lover.

   I am still sick with his sentimentality of a Strephon. He is a flippant coxcomb.

   1862, Theodore Winthrop, Edwin Brothertoft

   3 more examples

   […] those palmy days of pastoral revelry;—when every lover was a Damon or a Strephon, and his beloved a Delia or a Celia.

   1855, Frederick Lawrence, The life of Henry Fielding

   All their tunes were gay and lively ones, and the younger men moved their feet to the music, while a Strephon at the lower end of the lists seized upon a blooming Chloe, and the two began to dance "as if," quoth the Colonel, "the musicians were so many tarantula doctors."

   1901, The Atlantic Monthly, volume 87

   Nero Wolfe: You know, of course, that Orrie Cather is in custody. What you don't know is that he was on intimate terms with Miss Kerr for about a year and she told him many things about you, her provider. Naturally, she told you nothing of him, her Strephon.

   2002 April 14, Sharon Elizabeth Doyle et al., “Death of a Doxy”, in Nero Wolfe

   Synonyms: lover and Thesaurus:sexual partner