Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The act, process, or period of courting.
  • noun Zoology Specialized behavior in animals that leads to or initiates mating.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of paying court to dignitaries, especially for the purpose of gaining favors; the paying of interested respect and attention; the practices of a courtier.
  • noun The wooing of a woman; the series of attentions paid by a man to a woman for the purpose of gaining her love and ultimately her hand in marriage, or the mutual interest engendered and avowed between them, antecedent to a declaration of love or an engagement of marriage.
  • noun Courtly behavior; refinement; elegance of manners, speech, etc., such as is becoming at court.
  • noun Political artifice; court policy; finesse.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of paying court, with the intent to solicit a favor.
  • noun The act of wooing in love; solicitation of woman to marriage.
  • noun obsolete Courtliness; elegance of manners; courtesy.
  • noun obsolete Court policy; the character of a courtier; artifice of a court; court-craft; finesse.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The act of paying court, with the intent to solicit a favor.
  • noun The act of wooing in love; solicitation of woman to marriage.
  • noun Courtliness; elegance of manners; courtesy.
  • noun Court policy; the character of a courtier; artifice of a court; court-craft; finesse.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a man's courting of a woman; seeking the affections of a woman (usually with the hope of marriage)

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From court +‎ -ship.

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