Definition of "curtsey"

curtsey

/ˈkɝtsɪ/

noun
plural curtsies or curtseys
1. 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.
  Quotations
  Wid. I take my leaue with many thouſand thankes. / Rich. The Match is made, ſhee ſeales it with a Curſie.
  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, [Act III, scene ii], page 159, column 2
  [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.
  1868–1869, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, “Amy’s Will”, in Little Women: […], (please specify |part=1 or 2), Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, page 284
  No caps were touched, no curtseys bobbed.
  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)
verb
third-person singular simple present curtseys or curtsies, present participle curtseying, simple past and past participle curtseyed
1. To make a curtsey.
  Quotations
  "I’m sure you’ll excuse me, sir," said Mrs Varden, rising and curtseying.
  1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume III, London: Chapman & Hall, […], chapter 19
  On the other hand, Mrs. Ladbrook was standing in skull-cap and front, with her turban in her hand, curtsying and smiling blandly […]
  1861, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XI, in Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, part I, page 180
  'I be as nothing in the eyes of my lord,' and she curtseyed towards him […]
  1887, H[enry] Rider Haggard, chapter XVI, in Allan Quatermain‎
  But DANTE was a great genius, and language curtseys to its natural Kings.
  1890, James Russell Lowell, Address in Publications of the Modern Language Association of America
  He curtsied low, and then bowed almost to the ground, with an imperturbable gravity that seemed almost suspicious.
  1903, W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk
  The gentleman bows and the lady curtesys (measure eight).
  1908, Caroline Crawford, Folk Dances and Games

Definition of "curtsey"

curtsey

noun

Quotations

verb

Quotations