cicisbea

English

Etymology

From Italian cicisbea.

Noun

cicisbea (plural cicisbeas or cicisbee)

1. (now chiefly historical) The female companion or lover of a (chiefly married) man, especially in eighteenth-century Italy.
   • 1876, Dr Doran, ‘Mann’ and Manners at the Court of Florence, 1740–1786, page 143:

     The instant he was taken ill, he was persuaded he should dye, and refused to see anybody; even my neighbour, Anna Frescobaldi, his Cicisbea of 30 years standing was forbid.

   • 2009, Paula Findlen, “Anatomy of a Lesbian”, in Findlen, Roworth & Sama, editor, Italy's Eighteenth Century, Stanford University Press, page 242:

     Bonducci […] had been actively courting Walpole with such projects as his Italian translation of Alexander Pope's Rape of the Lock, which he dedicated to Horace Walpole's cicisbea Elisabetta Capponi.

Related terms

• cicisbeo

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃi.t͡ʃiˈzbɛ.a/
• Rhymes: -ɛa
• Hyphenation: ci‧ci‧sbè‧a

Etymology 1

Akin to cicisbeo.

Noun

cicisbea f (plural cicisbee)

1. (archaic) a vain, shallow woman who likes being admired

Further reading

• cicisbea in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

cicisbea

1. inflection of cicisbeare:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative