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Park Ave.

Park Ave.

1 7.6
A way of life connected with rich, important people in New York
  • proper noun
  • US
translation icon : estilo Park Ave.
  • Shopping and lunching's what you get when you marry a Park Avenue princess.

Examples

  • Married to a Park Avenue cluck... with the longest yacht and the shortest chin ever christened.

  • Everyone at the charity gala came from the exclusive Park Avenue social scene.

  • And stop trying to be friends with these Park Avenue phonies.

  • I was in the life full-time, living on Park Avenue.

  • Sherman McCoy of Park Avenue and Wall Street is gone!

  • All my mother ever wanted... ...was to be a Park Avenue lady... ...which isn't easy when you're in Alabama with no money.

  • She always dreamed of living like a Park Avenue lady, surrounded by luxury and wealth.

  • The article discussed the lavish lifestyles of the Park Avenue elite and their influence on fashion.

Synonyms

Fifth Avenue
vsPark Ave.
41 3.3

A famous street in Manhattan known for expensive shops and landmarks

is about commercial luxury and shopping not the social world of wealthy residents
Park Avenue
vsPark Ave.
17 3.4

A famous rich street in New York City with many expensive homes

refers to the high-status social world rather than the physical street

Surface Forms

Morphology

Park + Ave.

The meaning is a culture-specific metonymy referring to the social world of a particular New York street (Park Avenue) rather than a compositional sense derivable from 'park' and 'ave(ue)'. A B1 learner who knows the constituent words would not predict the association with wealth/status without prior world‑knowledge or exposure to the place-name usage, so it is not transparently compositional.

Etymology

Park Ave. is often used to mean the world of rich people who live there, with grand apartments, designer shops, private clubs, and fancy cars. So when people say Park Ave. they mean 'the wealthy, high‑status lifestyle'.