cicisbea
English
Etymology
From Italian cicisbea.
Noun
cicisbea (plural cicisbeas or cicisbee)
- (now chiefly historical) The female companion or lover of a (chiefly married) man, especially in eighteenth-century Italy.
- 1876, Dr Doran, ‘Mann’ and Manners at the Court of Florence, 1740–1786, p. 143:
- The instant he was taken ill, he was persuaded he should dye, and refused to see anybody; even my neighbour, Anna Frescobaldi, his Cicisbea of 30 years standing was forbid.
- 2009, Paula Findlen, ‘Anatomy of a Lesbian’, in Findlen, Roworth & Sama (eds.), Italy's Eighteenth Century, Stanford University Press, p. 242:
- Bonducci […] had been actively courting Walpole with such projects as his Italian translation of Alexander Pope's Rape of the Lock, which he dedicated to Horace Walpole's cicisbea Elisabetta Capponi.
- 1876, Dr Doran, ‘Mann’ and Manners at the Court of Florence, 1740–1786, p. 143:
Related terms
- cicisbeo
Italian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /t͡ʃi.t͡ʃiˈzbɛ.a/
- Rhymes: -ɛa
- Hyphenation: ci‧ci‧sbè‧a
Etymology 1
Akin to cicisbeo.
Noun
cicisbea f (plural cicisbee)
- (archaic) a vain, shallow woman who likes being admired
Further reading
- cicisbea in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Verb
cicisbea
- inflection of cicisbeare:
- third-person singular present indicative
- second-person singular imperative