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

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

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

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)

The cicisbeo is a bony cartilaginous gentleman, fixt perpendicularly on his saddle like a telegraph-pole.

From Seeing Europe with Famous Authors, Volume 4 France and the Netherlands, Part 2 by Halsey, Francis W. (Francis Whiting)