Emily Dickinson Lexicon

COURT'E-SY, n. [kurt'esy; Fr. courtoisie; Sp. It. cortesia; Port. cortezia; from Fr. courtois, Sp. cortes, courteous, from court.]

1. Elegance or politeness of manners; especially, politeness connected with kindness; civility; complaisance; as, the gentleman shows great courtesy to strangers; he treats his friends with great courtesy.
2. An act of civility or respect; an act of kindness or favor performed with politeness. – Shak. Bacon.
3. The act of civility, respect or reverence, performed by a woman; a fall or inclination of the body, corresponding in design to the bow of a gentleman. – Dryden.
4. A favor; as, to hold upon courtesy, that is, not of right, but by indulgence. Tenure by courtesy or curtesy, is where a man marries a woman seized of an estate of inheritance, and has by her issue born alive, which was capable of inheriting her estate; in this case, on the death of his wife, he holds the lands for his life, as tenant by curtesy. – Blackstone.