[f. prec. sb.]
1. intr. To make a curtsy; to do reverence to; now, like the sb., said only of women.
a. 1553. Udall, Royster D., I. iv. (Arb.), 26. Curtsie whooresons, douke you, and crouche at euery worde.
1567. Triall Treas. (1850), 14. Curchy, lob, curchy downe to the grounde.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., II. iv. 58. Mer. Such a case as yours constrains a man to bow in the hams. Rom. Meaning to cursie.
1672. Westminster Drollery, II. 80. And every Girle did curchy, Curchy, curchy on the Grasse.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 284, ¶ 6. She was all the while curtsying to Sir Anthony.
1804. Jane Austen, Watsons (1879), 323. Emma curtsied, the gentleman bowed.
1866. Geo. Eliot, F. Holt (1868), 26. She liked to be curtsied and bowed to by all the congregation.
β. 1741. Richardson, Pamela (1824), I. vi. 20. I curtesied to him, and to Mrs. Jervis for her good word.
1752. Chesterf., Lett., III. cclxxxix. 323. It is respectful to bow to the King of England … it is the rule to courtesy to the Emperor.
1845. Mrs. S. C. Hall, Whiteboy, I. v. 89. Mistress Myler entered, curtesied down to the ground, [etc.].
b. With advb. extension.
1824. Byron, Juan, XVI. ci. Ladies rose, And curtsying off, as curtsies country dame, Retired.
1849. Miss Mulock, Ogilvies, xvi. As she curtseyed herself out.
c. transf. and fig.
1588. Shaks., Tit. A., V. iii. 74. Shee whom mightie kingdomes cursie too. Ibid. (1599), Hen. V., V. ii. 293. O Kate, nice Customes cursie to great Kings.
1840. Dickens, Barn. Rudge, x. The plump pigeons … were skimming and curtseying about it.
1887. Lowell, Democracy, etc. 142. He had fancied that the laws of the universe would curtsy to the resolves of the National Convention.
2. trans. To make a curtsy to.
1566. Drant, Horace’s Sat., I. ix. (R.). To leade him home, to curtsey him, and cap him when he stayes.
a. 1591. H. Smith, Serm. (1622), 207. How would they cap me, and courtsie me?
1654. Gayton, Pleas. Notes, I. iii. 13. The Ladies … curtesied him, but he Curtizaned not them.
b. To give or express by curtsying.
1775. Sheridan, Rivals, Epil. She smiles preferment, or she frowns disgrace, Curtsies a pension here—there nods a place.
1798. Jane Austen, Northang. Abb. (1833), II. vii. 145. She courtesied her acquiescence.
Hence Curtsying vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., 327. Curcheeing, Genuflexion.
1714. Mandeville, Fab. Bees (1725), I. 38. The first rude essays of curt’sying.
1870. Daily News, 16 April, 5/5. Curtseying maidens and obsequious hinds, anxious to do honour to the man.
