Curtsy, (or curtsey)
Verb
Etymology: from the noun curtsy, which is a variant of courtesy. This latter is from Old French corteis. Corteis is from Old French cort (= a court).
Third-person singular simple present: she (he) curtsies (or curtseys)
Indicative past, past participle: curtsied (or curtseyed)
Present participle: curtsying (or curtseying)
Intransitively:
To make a curtsy; this is, to gesture one’s respect or salutation to someone either by bending one’s knees or by stooping.
It may be approximately translated by s’incliner courtoisement, in French; inclinarse cortésmente, in Spanish; inchinarsi cortesemente, in Italian.
'I'm sure you'll excuse me, sir,' said Mrs Varden, rising and curtseying.
Charles Dickens (Barnaby Rudge)
[…] his arm was touched by a neatly-dressed little girl, who curtsied, and asked if he was not Lieutenant Vanslyperken, belonging to the cutter.
Frederick Marryat (Snarleyyow)
Her gentle ringing at the bell was responded to by a dolorous-looking woman, of light complexion, with raised eyebrows, […], who curtseyed at sight of her, and conducted her across the garden to the house.
Charles Dickens (Dombey and son)
We looked at one another, half laughing at our being like the children in the wood, when a curious little old woman in a squeezed bonnet and carrying a reticule came curtsying and smiling up to us with an air of great ceremony.
Charles Dickens (Bleak house)
***The connotation either of bending one’s knees or of stooping may be reinforced by means of an adverb, as low, or by a prepositional construction, as, to the ground, etc.:
Miss Sharpe curtseyed very low as she left the room, and Miss Martinett again rang the bell.
Azel Stevens Roe (A long look ahead)
"I am Prince John," he said, "and I think that you are going to be kind enough to help me to a throne."
She drew back a step, looked for a second in his face, and then curtseyed low.
John Buchan (The House of the Four Winds)
“What ails ye at my face, fair sir?” she inquired, curtseying to the very ground.
Robert Louis Stevenson (The Black Arrow)
***With the preposition to (before the noun [or pronoun] designative of the person who is the object of the curtsey)
[…] he addressed Camilla, to whom he said something not very distinctly, about Tunbridge, she curtsied to him slightly, and turned away, without making any answer.
Fanny Burney (Camilla)
Honoria curtseyed to her benefactor, and left the room in silence.
Elizabeth Braddon (Run to Earth)
I bowed low, and she curtsied to me. "Good-night," she said.
Mary Johnston (To Have and To Hold)
The lady in question was by this time in the doorway, curtseying to Mrs Mould.
Charles Dickens (Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit)
In this little England of ours, who could fancy two stout men curtseying to each other?
Thomas de Quincey (The Uncollected Writings of Thomas de Quincey)
The two women curtsied to each other, each according to her fashion.
William Makepeace Thackeray (The History of Pendennis)
[Mrs Transome] liked that a tenant should stand bareheaded below her as she sat on horseback. She liked to insist that work done without her orders should be undone from beginning to end. She liked to be curtsied and bowed to by all the congregation.
George Eliot (Felix Holt the Radical)
***It occurs in exceptional constructions where an adverbial extension seems to add a simultaneous action or immediate result (the one of leaving, going, or the like) to the principal one of curtsying:
[…] as Adams and the rest had assured her of forgiveness, she cried and curtsied out of the room.
Henry Fielding (Joseph Andrews)
With this parting cordial she curtsies off—you listen to the sound of her receding footsteps as long as the last echo can reach you—and when, with fainting spirits, you attempt to fasten your door, you discover, with increased alarm, that it has no lock.
Jane Austen (Northanger Abbey)
Peggotty, with some uneasy glances at me, curtseyed herself out of the room without replying.
Charles Dickens (David Copperfield)
He again asked me in, and again I assured him I knew not any body was there when I opened the door, and curtsied myself into my own room.
Frances Burney (Diary and letters)
Transitively:
First definition: to make a curtsy to (someone = direct object); this is, to gesture one’s respect or salutation to (someone) either by bending one’s knees or by stooping.
Regarding herself as having now delivered her inauguration address, Mrs Gamp curtseyed all round, and signified her wish to be conducted to the scene of her official duties.
Charles Dickens (Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit)
[Judith] curtseyed him from the door.
Charlotte Eliza L. Riddell (The rich husband)
***It occurs in exceptional constructions where a prepositional extension seems to add a simultaneous action or immediate result (the one of accompanying, conducting, escorting, or the like) to the principal one of curtsying:
Madame de Choisy instantly began some compliments, but finding she only disconcerted me, she soon said she must not keep me back, and curtsied me on to another room, into which she shut me.
Frances Burney (The Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay)
The fellow's face flushed, and, with something of an oath, he went to the door, [… whistled], and returned next minute with a dozen powerful fellows, all armed. Contest was now useless, and I agreed to go with them until they met the "captain," who was then to settle the question of my liberty. The women curtseyed me to the door, as if they rather regretted the loss of their companion […].
George Croly (Marston)
[…] he allowed himself to be curtseyed out of the room as quietly as if the young lady had been doing the honours of Petersham Manor at a morning call.
Robert Folkestone Williams (Maids of honour)
Lady Glastonbury, […], anticipated much pleasure from the act of curtseying out from the castle the venerable spinsters who, seven years before, had rendered her own exit so humiliating.
Catherine Grace France (The diamond and the pearl)
In this manner was Mr Slope received. But when he left, he was allowed by each lady to take her hand, and to make his adieux as gentlemen do who have been graciously entertained! Yes; he shook hands with them, and was curtseyed out courteously […].
Anthony Trollope (Barchester Towers)
Second definition: to gesture (something) by curtsying; this is, to signify gesturally (something, as thanks, acceptance, etc.) to some one while curtsying to him (her).
Sick with sorrow and humiliation –for such she acutely felt- Kate Dalton rose and retired to her room. “Tell Madame de Heidendorf, Nina,” said she, “that I feel tired to-day, and beg she will excuse my not appearing at dinner.”
Nina curtseyed her obedience, but it was easy to see that the explanation by no means satisfied her, and that she was determined to know something more of the origin of her mistress’s indisposition.
Charles James Lever (The Daltons)
“[…] perhaps you will dine with me? I mean to call on Miss Dorothy Somerset, and would invite her to be of the party.”
Lady Sara curtseyed her acceptance of the invitation.
Jane Porter (Thaddeus of Warsaw)
Tib curtseyed her thanks and prepared to go.
Eliakim Littell (The living age, vol. 57)
[…] in the confusion of her entrée her curtain veil obscured her face; as she curtseyed her thanks to her auditors, she removed it.
William Leman Rede (The wedded wanderer)
The baron paused, while Helen could only weep, as with respect she curtseyed her acknowledgments to Baron Maxwell.
Elizabeth Isabella Spence (How to be rid of a wife)
When the door was opened she rather curtseyed her thanks than spoke them.
James Sheridan Knowles (Fortescue)
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