obeisance
English
Alternative forms
- obeisaunce, obeissance, abaisance (obsolete)
Etymology
Middle English obeisaunce (“obedience, obeisance”), from Old French obeïssance, derived from obeïssant (“obedient”), participle of obeïr (“to obey”), from Latin oboedire, obedire; ob- (“to, for”) + audire (“to hear”). Cognate with obedience.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /oʊˈbeɪsəns/, /oʊˈbiːsəns/, /əˈbeɪsəns/, /əˈbiːsəns/
- Hyphenation: o‧bei‧sance
- Rhymes: -eɪsəns
Audio (US) (file)
Noun
obeisance (countable and uncountable, plural obeisances)
- Demonstration of an obedient attitude, especially by bowing deeply; a deep bow which demonstrates such an attitude.
- 1845, Edgar Allan Poe, "The Raven":
- Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
- In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore;
- Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
- But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door —
- Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door —
- Perched, and sat, and nothing more.
- 1915, Edward Plunkett, Lord Dunsany, Fifty-One Tales:
- But looking upwards in the blaze of the moon I suddenly saw colossi sitting near, and towering up and blotting out the stars and filling the night with blackness; and at those idols’ feet I saw praying and making obeisance kings and the days that are and all times and all cities and all nations and all their gods.
- 1962, J. L. Austin, How To Do Things With Words (OUP paperback edition), p. 69:
- The situation in the case of actions which are non-linguistic but similar to performative utterances in that they are the performance of a conventional action (here ritual or ceremonial) is rather like this: suppose I bow deeply before you; it might not be clear whether I am doing obeisance to you or, say, stooping to observe the flora or to ease my indigestion.
- 1845, Edgar Allan Poe, "The Raven":
- An obedient attitude.
Usage notes
- Usually in the phrases do obeisance or make obeisance.
Translations
demonstration of an obedient attitude, especially by bowing deeply; a deep bow which demonstrates such an attitude
See also
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