1. [n] bending at the knees; a gesture of respect made by women 2. [v] make a curtsy; usually done only by girls and women; as a sign of respect; “She curtsied when she shook the Queen’s hand” 3. [v] a gesture of respectful greeting, for women

Invitation to Dance, by Alan Maley

When [...]]]> Definition of curtsy:

1. [n] bending at the knees; a gesture of respect made by women
2. [v] make a curtsy; usually done only by girls and women; as a sign of respect; “She curtsied when she shook the Queen’s hand”
3. [v] a gesture of respectful greeting, for women

Invitation to Dance, by Alan Maley

When a girl or woman curtsies, she bends quickly at the knees, with one foot in front of the other, while holding her skirt, especially to show respect to a king or queen.

Trivia:

One of Wimbledon’s most enduring traditions is finished – players will no longer have to bow or curtsy to the Royal Box at Centre Court.
…
Players have been required to bow or curtsy to the royal family when walking onto or leaving Centre Court. From now on they will have to do so only if Queen Elizabeth II or Prince Charles, her eldest son and heir to the throne, is in the box.

RedNova News: The Curtsy Bows Out at Wimbledon

With curtsy to each other / went full many a maid,
The knights a willing service / unto the ladies paid.
After the greeting sat they / adown upon the green;
Knew many then each other / that hitherto had strangers been.

Excerpt from Chapter 24, The Nibelungenlied (By George Henry Needler, Translator)

The actual ceremony was quite simple. The young woman would have her name announced by the Lord Chamberlain, she would walk forward to where the monarch was seated and make a deep curtsy. She would then curtsy to any other royal personages and then back out of the royal presence, all the while trying not to drip over her train.

Presentation at Court

The young debutante would also practice kissing the Queen’s hand, but the curtsy was all-important! Often a young lady attended classes to learn to curtsy in the proper
manner. The curtsy she performed at Court was not an ordinary curtsy. This was a full court curtsy; one where she would need to bend her knee until it nearly touched the floor–but not quite.Then she would hold this position for an ample amount of time while making a low bow, and rise again, without losing her balance, falling over, or tripping on her gown and its extensive train. Finally, the young lady repeatedly practiced her exit because she would be required to back out of the room, as it was considered the height of impropriety and was against all rules of etiquette to ever turn her back on a royal personage.

Presentation at Court

“Stop,” she said, “I am grown too big! Welcome, cousin Harry,” and she made him an arch curtsy, sweeping down to the ground almost, with the most gracious bend, looking up the while with the brightest eyes and sweetest smile. Love seemed to radiate from her. Harry eyed her with such a rapture as the first lover is described as having by Milton.

The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. – Chapter VII

European Union Decision on Official Language

The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the EU rather than German which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, Her Majesty’s Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a [...]]]> I found this in my Gmail Spam folder:

European Union Decision on Official Language

The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English
will be the official language of the EU rather than German which was the
other possibility. As part of the negotiations, Her Majesty’s Government
conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has
accepted a 5 year phase-in plan that would be known as “Euro-English”.

In the first year, “s” will replace the soft “c”. Sertainly, this will
make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard “c” will be dropped in
favour of the”k”. This should klear up konfusion and keyboards kan have
1 less letter. There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond
year, when the troublesome “ph” will be replaced with “f”. This will
make words like “fotograf” 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be ekspekted
to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.
Governments will enkorage the removal of double letters, which have
always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the
horible mes of the silent “e”s in the language is disgraseful, and they
should go away.

By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing
“th” with “z” and “w” with “v”. During ze fifz year, ze unesesary “o”
kan be dropd from vords kontaining “ou” and similar changes vud of kors
be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters.

After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no
mor trubl o

r difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi to understand ech
ozer. Ze drem vil finali kum tru! And zen ve vil tak over ze vorld!