polite society

Noun

polite society (uncountable)

1. The elite or upper crust of society.
   • [H]e had been brought up in an extravagant family, who considered tradesmen and manufacturers as a caste disgraceful to polite society.1803, Maria Edgeworth, The Manufacturers
   • [I]n the midst of the company assembled the reader's humble servant was present, and in a very polite society, too, of "poets, clergymen, men of letters, and members of both Houses of Parliament."1863, William Makepeace Thackeray, Roundabout Papers
2. That portion of society that is especially concerned with etiquette, proper behavior, and politeness.
   • [S]he managed with considerable effort to keep up a sufficient outward semblance of mourning to satisfy the customs and fashions of polite society.1892, F. Marion Crawford, chapter 14, in Pietro Ghisleri
   • Scenes, Lady Jane had explained—on the occasion of his knocking down an objectionable cabman during their honeymoon trip—were of all things what polite society most resolutely abhorred.1909, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 6, in The Gem Collector