cicisbeo

[chee-chiz-bey-oh, si-sis-bee-oh, chee-cheez-be-oh]

noun

plural

cicisbei 

1. an escort or lover of a married woman.

cicisbeo

/ tʃitʃizˈbɛːo /

noun

1. the escort or lover of a married woman, esp in 18th-century Italy

Word History and Origins

Origin of cicisbeo¹

From Italian

Word History and Origins

Origin of cicisbeo¹

C18: Italian, of uncertain origin

Example Sentences

We in Germany may perhaps wish to accomplish 99 something false or impossible, but it is, and always will be, quite dissimilar; and just as a cicisbeo will for ever be odious and repulsive to my feelings, so is it also with Italian music.

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One thing let me tell you; never admit your Cicisbeo to an unlimited familiarity; they are first suspected.

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Lord Biddulph is what Lady Besford stiles, my Cicisbeo—that is, he takes upon him the task of attending me to public places, calling my chair—handing me refreshments, and such-like; but I assure you, I do not approve of him in the least: and Lady Besford may be assured, I shall, at least, follow her kind advice in this particular, not to admit him to familiarities; though his Lordship seems ready enough to avail himself of all opportunities of being infinitely more assiduous than I wish him.

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I concluded to find Monsieur Sordeville, remembering the advice Madame Dauberny had given me before her cicisbeo's arrival.

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Gozzi becomes her Cicisbeo, ii.

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