cicisbeo

American  

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

noun

plural

cicisbei

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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Etymology

Origin of cicisbeo

From Italian

Example Sentences

For my part, I would rather be condemned for life to the gallies, than exercise the office of a cicisbeo, exposed to the intolerable caprices and dangerous resentment of an Italian virago.

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

This is a proud beauty of the people, who at other times wears the fazzoletto, that is a lady of position who seeks a cicisbeo.

From Withered Leaves. Vol. I. (of III) A Novel by Gottschall, Rudolf von

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 cicisbeo was the professed gallant of a married woman, who attended her at all public entertainments, it being considered unfashionable for the husband to be escort.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 3 "Chitral" to "Cincinnati" by Various

For several months he played this unwholesome role of cicisbeo to Charlotte von Kalb.

From The Life and Works of Friedrich Schiller by Thomas, Calvin