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Shortened from courtesy, 16th c. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term. needs reference, expansion
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.
[I]t was her favorite amusement to array herself in the faded brocades, and parade up and down before the long mirror, making stately courtesies, and sweeping her train about, with a rustle which delighted her ears.