the Four Hundred

the Four Hundred

The wealthiest and most powerful of the social elite. The phrase allegedly originated from the number of people that Caroline Schermerhorn Astor (wife of US millionaire John Jacob Astor) could fit inside her ballroom. Primarily heard in US. Thanks to my new husband, I am now part of the Four Hundred and the recipient of many jealous looks.
See also: four, hundred
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • all things to all men, to be
  • all quiet on the Potomac
  • deal (one) out of (something)
  • deal out of
  • another lie nailed to the counter
  • all the world's a stage
  • a brave new world
  • the ball is in (one's) court
  • the ball is in someone’s court
  • the ball is in your/somebody's court
References in classic literature
If it were so, the number of sides in a Circle would be a mere question of pedigree and arithmetic, and the four hundred and ninety-seventh descendant of an Equilateral Triangle would necessarily be a Polygon with five hundred sides.
Flatland
Between these two considerations, at least, he was more than usually moved; and when he got to Randolph Crescent, he quite forgot the four hundred pounds in the inner pocket of his greatcoat, hung up the coat, with its rich freight, upon his particular pin of the hatstand; and in the very action sealed his doom.
Tales and Fantasies
There are four staircases leading up to the main steeple, each of which cost a hundred thousand dollars, with the four hundred and eight statues which adorn them.
The Innocents Abroad
As such, The Four Hundred Stanzas is one of the foundational classics of Mahayana Buddhist philosophy.
Aryadeva's Four Hundred Stanzas on the Middle Way
I'm trying to find more info about the Four Hundred Families, which Picano mentions, and not having much luck with a Google search.
Family in Florence
As a politician Antiphon was the prime mover in the anti-democratic revolution of the Four Hundred, an oligarchic council set up in 411 BC in an attempt to seize the Athenian government in the midst of war.
Antiphon