cicisbeism
Definitions
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- noun The practice of acting as, or the custom of having, a cicisbeo; the practice of dangling about women.
Examples
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Some boldly apply the name of “love” to a caprice of a few days, a connection without attachment, passion without affection, the affectations of cicisbeism, a cold usage, a romantic fancy, a taste speedily followed by a distaste.
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She tempts fate when she carries on her gallantries and her Italian cicisbeism under the eyes of Scone Dacres.
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There may also have been something very reassuring to Alfieri's apprehensions in the knowledge that he would be dealing, not with an Italian woman, accustomed and almost socially obliged to hold a man in the degrading bonds of cicisbeism, but with a foreigner, the jealously-guarded wife of a sort of legendary ogre, with whom, however much the old fury of love might awaken in him, there could by no possibility be anything beyond the most strictly watched friendship.
Note
The word 'cicisbeism' comes from Italian, but its ultimate origin is uncertain.
