courtesy

Pluralcourtesies (some meanings)

1. 1
   noununcountable

   Polite and considerate behavior toward other people.

   He thanked the staff with the kind of courtesy that put everyone at ease.

   Common courtesy means letting others finish speaking before you reply.

   Similarpoliteness, civility, consideration, graciousness, manners

   Oppositerudeness, discourtesy, impoliteness, incivility

   Note

   Manners as a general quality, the uncountable core the other meanings build on. The word came through Middle English curteisie from Anglo-Norman and Old French, and it is courteous with the abstract-noun ending -y. A useful frame is extend someone the courtesy of: whatever follows, such as your presence, a reply or your attention, is presented as a small gift rather than a duty.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A polite gesture or remark offered by choice rather than out of duty or routine.

   Sending a thank-you note is a courtesy that few people bother with anymore.

   The host extended every courtesy to her unexpected visitors.

   Similarkindness, favor, gesture, nicety

   Oppositediscourtesy, slight

   Note

   Count the manners and you get single acts, which is why Shakespeare can thank a lord for "your many courtesies." The everyday construction is as a courtesy, as in a ride offered simply as a courtesy. It marks the act as optional, something not owed. That optional quality separates it from the general quality of politeness, which describes a person rather than a deed.

3. 3
   adjective

   Provided free of charge.

   Guests can use the courtesy phone in the lobby to call their rooms.

   The dealership provided a courtesy car while mine was being repaired.

   Similarcomplimentary, free, gratis

   Oppositepaid

   Note

   Placed before a noun, the word can simply mean free: courtesy tickets for reporters, a courtesy car or a courtesy phone, much as complimentary or gratis would. Context separates it from the "polite gesture" adjective. A courtesy visit is a gesture with no price involved, while a courtesy ticket waives a charge someone else would pay.

4. 4
   adjective

   Given or done as a polite gesture rather than out of necessity.

   The senator paid a courtesy call on the visiting delegation.

   A courtesy nod from the judge signaled that the hearing could begin.

   Similarpolite, token

5. 5
   noununcountable

   A generous readiness to supply something that someone needs.

   The exhibit was made possible through the courtesy of several private collectors.

   They reached the summit thanks to the courtesy of local guides who shared their supplies.

   Similargenerosity, kindness, goodwill

   Note

   Captions and labels run on generosity. Courtesy the Smith Foundation means the foundation supplied or permitted what you are looking at. The fuller form is through the courtesy of, as with free advertising given through the courtesy of a newspaper. Read the credit-line version as thanks for supply or permission, not as a comment on anyone's manners.

6. 6
   noununcountable

   Agreement or allowance given out of indulgence rather than because the facts strictly require it.

   She is a duchess by courtesy, the rank granted through her husband rather than by birth.

   The committee accepted his figures by courtesy, knowing the numbers were rough.

   Note

   Here courtesy is a polite fiction: a name or claim is allowed to stand although the facts do not quite support it. It lives almost entirely in the phrase by courtesy, often sharpened with only, as when a pond is called a lake by courtesy only. The phrase is quietly deflating. Saying something holds its title by courtesy implies it has not earned that title.

7. 7
   nouncountable or uncountable

   A respectful greeting made by bending the knees and lowering the body, traditionally by a woman or girl.

   The girl dropped a courtesy as the duchess passed.

   He bowed and she returned a courtesy before the music began.

   Similarcurtsy

   Note

   The bending of the knee was once spelled exactly like the word for good manners, and it is courtesy made visible. Goldsmith in 1760 has a lady who "drops a courtesy," and Alcott's Little Women still shows Amy "making stately courtesies" before a mirror. Today the gesture is usually written curtsey, so drop a courtesy reads as older English.

8. 8
   verb

   Alternative form of curtsey. Dated.

   Maids were expected to courtesy whenever a guest of rank arrived.

   The young ladies rose to courtesy as the duchess entered.

   Note

   The verb follows the spelling of the bending of the knee and takes regular forms: courtesies, courtesying, courtesied. Its standard counterpart is curtsey, a small bow generally made by a woman or girl, one leg crossed behind the other and the knees briefly bent. Use courtesy when quoting or imitating older prose. Elsewhere, curtsey is the form readers expect.

9. 9
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The lifelong right a surviving husband holds to use the land and property his deceased wife owned.

   Under the old law, courtesy entitled the widower to manage his wife's estate for life.

   The husband claimed courtesy in the lands his wife had inherited.

   Note

   A term from the old law of property that happens to share its spelling with good manners. It names a life interest: the surviving husband may hold and use his late wife's real estate for as long as he lives, but the interest ends with his life. In legal writing it usually appears without an article, as in claiming courtesy in her lands.

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