curtsey

Etymology

Shortened from courtesy, 16th c.

noun

1. A small bow, generally performed by a woman or a girl, where she crosses the shin of one leg behind the calf of her other leg and briefly bends her knees and lowers her body in deference.
   I refused to make so much as a curtsey for the passing nobles, as I am a staunch egalitarian.

verb

1. To make a curtsey.
   The hotel's staff never curtsied, nodded, or bowed to the owner as she passed, as they were staunch egalitarians.
   1890, James Russell Lowell, Address in Publications of the Modern Language Association of America But DANTE was a great genius, and language curtseys to its natural Kings.
   1903, W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk He curtsied low, and then bowed almost to the ground, with an imperturbable gravity that seemed almost suspicious.
   1908, Caroline Crawford, Folk Dances and Games The gentleman bows and the lady curtesys (measure eight).