cicisbeo

American  

[chee-chiz-bey-oh, si-sis-bee-oh, chee-cheez-be-oh] / ˌtʃi tʃɪzˈbeɪ oʊ, sɪˈsɪs biˌoʊ, ˌtʃi tʃizˈbɛ oʊ /

noun

cicisbei plural

1. an escort or lover of a married woman.

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cicisbeo British  

/ tʃitʃizˈbɛːo /

noun

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

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• cicisbei
  plural

Etymology

Origin of cicisbeo

From Italian

Example Sentences

Ask the name, the husband, the wife, or the cicisbeo, of any person, et voila qui est fini.

From The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford — Volume 1 by Cunningham, Peter

The Italian cicisbeo in the seventeenth century was a cavalier servente, who attended a married lady.

From Folkways A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals by Sumner, William Graham

His account of the cicisbeo and his duties, whether in Nice, Florence, or Rome, is certainly one of the most interesting that we have.

From Travels through France and Italy by Smollett, T. (Tobias)

It must be owned the Lady Louise had some excuse for a measure that seemed to have amazed and horrified her cicisbeo.

From At Last by Harland, Marion

And who are you that talk to me of dishonour?—you that come straying here out of the night with your cicisbeo at your heels?

From Sir John Constantine Memoirs of His Adventures At Home and Abroad and Particularly in the Island of Corsica: Beginning with the Year 1756 by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir