Noun: curtsey
| Singular | curtsey |
| Plural | curtsies; curtseys |
Sample Sentences
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I refused to make so much as a curtsey for the passing nobles, as I am a staunch egalitarian.
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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, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 159, column 2:]
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[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, →OCLC, page 284:]
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No caps were touched, no curtseys bobbed. [1928, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter II, in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, [Germany?]: Privately printed, →OCLC:]
Nouns inflected like curtsey
smokey,
hostess trolley,
cartooney,
spirit money,
curtsey,
fogey,
money,
covey,
ghost money,
jarvey,
Etymology
Variant of courtesy (1525) (from court + -esy), from Middle English curteisie, curtesie, from Anglo-Norman curtesie, from Old French curteisie, cortoisie. See: Middle English Nouns '
curteisie'.