courtesy (usu. 3 syll., but in a few instances 2 syll., where old edd. have “curtsie, cursie,” mod. edd. “court'sy, curt'sy, curtsy”)
1.
good
manners
MND. III. ii. 147
“If you were civil and
knew ”
; sense of what good manners require
Mer.V. V. i. 217
“I was beset with shame
and ”
2.
obeisance, bow
(freq.) LLL. I. ii. 67,
Troil. II. iii. 115
“The elephant hath
joints but none for ”
; a common phr. was “to
make ”
Ado II. i. 57, AYL. Epil. 24; fig.
Meas. II. iv. 176 (cf.
Lr. III. vii. 26 ‘yield to wrath’).
3.
“
of nations,” usage of civilized peoples
AYL. I. i. 49.
