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单词 courtship
释义

courtship

English

WOTD – 14 February 2021

Etymology

From court (“demonstration of such respect as is traditionally given at court; attention directed to a person in power; behaviour designed to gain favour; politeness of manner; civility towards someone”) +‎ -ship (suffix forming nouns indicating a property or state of being).[1]

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈkɔːt.ʃɪp/
  • Audio (RP)(file)
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈkɔɹt.ʃɪp/
  • Hyphenation: court‧ship

Noun

courtship (countable and uncountable, plural courtships)

  1. (countable, uncountable) The act of paying court, that is, demonstrating such politeness and respect as is traditionally given at a court (“a formal assembly of a sovereign's retinue”).
    1. (obsolete) The ceremonial performance of acts of courtesy to a dignitary, etc.
      • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedie of King Richard the Second. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Simmes for Androw Wise, […], published 1597, OCLC 213833262, [Act I, scene iv]:
        Our ſelfe and Buſhie, / Obſerued his courtſhip to the common people, / How he did ſeeme to diue into their harts, / With humble and familiar courteſie, / What reuerence he did throw away on ſlaues, [...]
      • [1611?], Homer, “Book XV”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, OCLC 614803194; The Iliads of Homer, Prince of Poets, […], volume I, new edition, London: Charles Knight and Co., […], 1843, OCLC 987451361, page 51:
        So reverend Juno headlong flew, and 'gainst her stomach striv'd. / For (being amongst th' immortal gods, in high heaven, soon arriv'd, / All rising, welcoming with with cups her little absence then) / She all their courtships overpast with solemn negligence, / Save that which fair-cheek'd Themis show'd, and her kind cup she took: [...]
      • 1641 May, John Milton, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England: And the Cavvses that hitherto have Hindred it; republished as Will Taliaferro Hale, editor, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England (Yale Studies in English; LIV), New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1916, OCLC 260112239, 2nd book, page 62:
        The Magistrate whose Charge is to see to our Persons, and Estates, is to bee honour'd with a more elaborate and personall Courtship, with large Salaries and Stipends, that hee himselfe may abound in those things whereof his legall justice and watchfull care gives us the quiet enjoyment.
    2. The act of wooing a person to enter into a romantic relationship or marriage; hence, the period during which a couple fall in love before their marriage.
      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:courtship
      • c. 1591–1595 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] Romeo and Juliet. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, published 1597, OCLC 503903918, [Act II, scene ii]:
        More validitie, / More honourable ſtate, more courtſhip liues / In carrion flyes, than Romeo: they may ſeaze / On the white wonder of faire Iuliets skinne, / And ſteale immortall kiſſes from her lips; / But Romeo may not, he is baniſhed.
      • c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, OCLC 24594216, [Act II, scene viii]:
        Be merry, and employ your cheefeſt thoughts / To Courtſhip, and ſuch faire oſtents of loue, / As ſhall conueniently become you there.
      • 1712 January 9 (Gregorian calendar)​, Joseph Addison, “SATURDAY, December 29, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 261; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, OCLC 191120697, page 301:
        The pleasantest part of a man's life is generally that which passes in courtship, provided his passion be sincere, and the party beloved kind with discretion.
      • 1838 March – 1839 October, Charles Dickens, “Of Miss Squeers, Mrs. Squeers, Master Squeers, and Mr. Squeers; and Various Matters and Persons Connected No Less with the Squeerses than with Nicholas Nickleby”, in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1839, OCLC 1057107260, page 79:
        [T]he friend's father and mother were quite agreeable to her being married, and the whole courtship was in consequence as flat and common-place as it was possible to imagine.
      • 1968, John Updike, Couples (A Borzoi Book), New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, OCLC 906048431; republished as Couples‎, London; New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, 2007, →ISBN:
        Their courtship passed as something instantly forgotten, like an enchantment, or a mistake.
    3. (by extension) The behaviour exhibited by an animal to attract a mate.
      • 1791, Oliver Goldsmith, “Of the Bittern or Mire-drum”, in An History of the Earth, and Animated Nature. […], volume VI, new edition, London: […] F[rancis] Wingrave, successor to Mr. [John] Nourse, […], OCLC 877622212, part V (Of Birds of the Crane Kind), page 2:
        Theſe bellowing exploſions [of the bittern] are chiefly heard from the beginning of ſpring to the end of autumn; and, however awful they may ſeem to us, are the calls to courtſhip, or of connubial felicity.
    4. (figuratively) The act of trying to solicit a favour or support from someone.
      • 1816 February 13, [Lord Byron], “The Siege of Corinth”, in The Siege of Corinth. A Poem. Parisina. A Poem, London: […] [T[homas] Davison] for John Murray, […], OCLC 794780410, stanza XIII, lines 287–290, page 20:
        His head grows fevered, and his pulse / The quick successive throbs convulse; / In vain from side to side he throws / His form, in courtship of repose; [...]
  2. (countable, uncountable, obsolete) Elegance or propriety of manners fitting for a court; courtliness; (by extension) courteous or polite behaviour; courtesy.
    • c. 1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for Cut[h]bert Burby, published 1598, OCLC 61366361; republished as Shakspere’s Loves Labours Lost (Shakspere-Quarto Facsimiles; no. 5), London: W[illiam] Griggs, […], [1880], OCLC 1154977408, [Act V, scene ii]:
      King. How Madame? Ruſsians? / Quee[n]. I [i.e., ay] in trueth My Lord. / Trim gallants, full of Courtſhip and of ſtate.
  3. (uncountable, obsolete) The pursuit of being a courtier, such as exercising diplomacy, finesse, etc.; also, the artifices and intrigues of a court; courtcraft.
    • 1592, Thomas Nash[e], Pierce Penilesse His Supplication to the Deuill. […], London: […] [John Charlewood for] Richard Ihones, […], OCLC 86095368; republished as J[ohn] Payne Collier, editor, Pierce Penniless’s Supplication to the Devil. […], London: […] [Frederic Shoberl, Jun.] for the Shakespeare Society, 1842, OCLC 1080805044, page 25:
      The Frenchman (not altered from his owne nature) is wholly compact of deceivable courtship, and (for the most part) loues none but himselfe and his pleasure: yet though he be the most Grand Signeur of them all, he will say, A vostre service et commandemente monsieur [at your service and command, monsieur], to the meanest vassaile he meetes.
  • court
  • courtliness
  • courtly

Translations

References

  1. “courtship, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1893; “courtship, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

  • courtship on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
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