curtsy

[ kurt-see ]

/ ˈkɜrt si /

noun, plural curt·sies.

a respectful bow made by women and girls, consisting of bending the knees and lowering the body.

verb (used without object), curt·sied, curt·sy·ing.

to make a curtsy.

Nearby words

Origin of curtsy

First recorded in 1520–30; variant of courtesy

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for curtsies

Come along all of you, and make your best bows and curtsies.
The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor, Vol. I, No. 6, June 1810|Various
When we had made our curtsies to the Empress she desired that we should go round and be presented to His Majesty.
Fifty-One Years of Victorian Life|Margaret Elizabeth Leigh Child-Villiers, Countess of Jersey
He blushed redder than ever at the sight of us, as we entered the hall and dropped him our curtsies.
My Lady Ludlow|Elizabeth Gaskell
She was wandering about in honorable idleness, and when his eyes fell upon her she delivered him one of her curtsies.
The American|Henry James

We saw them going toward the house, and exchanged bows and curtsies at a distance, but did not join them.
The Works of William Cowper|William Cowper

British Dictionary definitions for curtsies

curtsy

curtsey

/ (ˈkɜːtsɪ) /

noun plural -sies or -seys

a formal gesture of greeting and respect made by women in which the knees are bent, the head slightly bowed, and the skirt held outwards

verb -sies, -sying, -sied, -seys, -seying or -seyed

(intr) to make a curtsy

Word Origin for curtsy

C16: variant of courtesy

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for curtsies

curtsy

1550s, from curtsy (n.). Related: Curtsied; curtsying.

curtsy

1540s, "expression of respect," a variant of courtesy (q.v.). Specific meaning "a bending the knee and lowering the body as a gesture of respect" is from 1570s. Originally not exclusively feminine.