English

woman making a curtsey

Alternative forms

• curtsy

Noun

curtsey ‎(plural curtsies or curtseys)

1. A small bow, generally performed by a woman or a girl, where she crosses one calf of her leg behind the other 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.

   • 1868, Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

     ...making stately curtsies, and sweeping her train about with a rustle...

   • 1928, D.H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley's Lover

     No caps were touched, no curtseys bobbed.

Hypernyms

• (gesture): congee, congé, conge

Translations

Verb

curtsey ‎(third-person singular simple present curtsies or curtseys, present participle curtsying or curtseying, simple past and past participle curtsied or curtseyed)

1. To make a curtsey.

   The hotel's staff variously curtsied, nodded, and bowed to the owner as she passed.

   • 1841, Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge

     "I’m sure you’ll excuse me, sir," said Mrs Varden, rising and curtseying.

   • 1861, George Eliot, Silas Marner

     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. Rider Haggard, Allan Quatermain

     '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 curtesys 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

• congee, congé, conge

Translations

Anagrams

• curtesy