Coryphee

They were suspended by a ribbon that had once done duty in the costume of a coryphee; they rose and fell to the young man's gentle breathing. ❋ Rex Ellingwood Beach (1913)

Scotch Highlanders, it consists of many folds of airy white material that protrude in the fanciful manner of the stage costume of a coryphee. ❋ Thomas Stevens (1894)

A celebrity, the Zu-Zu, the last coryphee whom Bertie had translated from a sphere of garret bread-and-cheese to a sphere of villa champagne and chicken (and who, of course, in proportion to the previous scarcity of her bread-and-cheese, grew immediately intolerant of any wine less than 90s the dozen), said the Cecil cared for nothing longer than a fortnight, unless it was his horse, Forest King. ❋ 1839-1908 Ouida (1873)

That girl might be anything -- Queen of Spain, or coryphee in the opera ballet. ❋ Charles Dudley Warner (1864)

The first was danced by a young talented Mariinsky coryphee dancer Konstantin Zverev, who had just made his debut as Espada in the Mariinsky Ballet's Birmingham tour in May. ❋ Unknown (2008)

"It would fill the tent in old Noo York, but it's n.g. in this here country, where everybody's either a coryphee or a clown or a pantaloon! ❋ Unknown (1899)

"She is a Mademoiselle Julie Caumartin, and was a very popular coryphee. ❋ Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton (1838)

It was only last evening that I met this lady at a soiree given by Mademoiselle Julie Caumartin, coryphee distinguee, in love with young Rameau. " ❋ Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton (1838)