curtsey
English edit
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Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Shortened from courtesy, 16th c. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term. needs reference, expansion
Pronunciation edit
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈkɝtsɪ/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈkɜːtsɪ/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - Hyphenation: curt‧sey
Noun edit
curtsey (plural curtsies or curtseys)
- A small bow, generally performed by a woman or a girl, where she crosses the shin of one leg behind the calf of her other leg and briefly bends her knees and lowers her body in deference.
- I refused to make so much as a curtsey for the passing nobles, as I am a staunch egalitarian.
- c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 159, column 2:
- Wid. I take my leaue with many thouſand thankes. / Rich. The Match is made, ſhee ſeales it with a Curſie.
- 1868–1869, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, “Amy’s Will”, in Little Women: […], (please specify |part=1 or 2), Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, →OCLC, page 284:
- [I]t was her favorite amusement to array herself in the faded brocades, and parade up and down before the long mirror, making stately courtesies, and sweeping her train about, with a rustle which delighted her ears.
- 1928, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter II, in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, authorized British edition, London: Martin Secker […], published February 1932 (May 1932 printing), →OCLC:
- No caps were touched, no curtseys bobbed.
Hypernyms edit
Translations edit
small bow of knees and lowered body, usually by a female
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Verb edit
curtsey (third-person singular simple present curtseys or curtsies, present participle curtseying, simple past and past participle curtseyed)
- To make a curtsey.
- The hotel's staff never curtsied, nodded, or bowed to the owner as she passed, as they were staunch egalitarians.
- 1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume III, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, chapter 19:
- "I’m sure you’ll excuse me, sir," said Mrs Varden, rising and curtseying.
- 1861, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XI, in Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, part I, page 180:
- On the other hand, Mrs. Ladbrook was standing in skull-cap and front, with her turban in her hand, curtsying and smiling blandly […]
- 1887, H[enry] Rider Haggard, chapter XVI, in Allan Quatermain[1]:
- 'I be as nothing in the eyes of my lord,' and she curtseyed towards him […]
- 1890, James Russell Lowell, Address in Publications of the Modern Language Association of America
- But DANTE was a great genius, and language curtseys to its natural Kings.
- 1903, W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk
- He curtsied low, and then bowed almost to the ground, with an imperturbable gravity that seemed almost suspicious.
- 1908, Caroline Crawford, Folk Dances and Games
- The gentleman bows and the lady curtesys (measure eight).
Hypernyms edit
Translations edit
to make a curtsey
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See also edit
- Not to be confused with courtsey.
