cicisbeo

[ chee-chiz-bey-ohor, older use, si-sis-bee-oh; Italian chee-cheez-be-oh ]

noun

, plural ci·cis·be·i [chee-chiz-, bey, -ee, si-, sis, -bee-ee, chee-cheez-, be, -ee].

1. an escort or lover of a married woman.

cicisbeo

/ tʃitʃizˈbɛːo /

noun

1. the escort or lover of a married woman, esp in 18th-century Italy

Word History and Origins

Origin of cicisbeo¹

From Italian

Word History and Origins

Origin of cicisbeo¹

C18: Italian, of uncertain origin

Example Sentences

We in Germany may perhaps wish to accomplish 99 something false or impossible, but it is, and always will be, quite dissimilar; and just as a cicisbeo will for ever be odious and repulsive to my feelings, so is it also with Italian music.

From Project Gutenberg

As a consequence we have the 'cicisbeo', and in Italy as in France the idea that our nobles are the sons of their nominal fathers is a purely conventional one.

From Project Gutenberg

One thing let me tell you; never admit your Cicisbeo to an unlimited familiarity; they are first suspected.

From Project Gutenberg

Lord Biddulph is what Lady Besford stiles, my Cicisbeo—that is, he takes upon him the task of attending me to public places, calling my chair—handing me refreshments, and such-like; but I assure you, I do not approve of him in the least: and Lady Besford may be assured, I shall, at least, follow her kind advice in this particular, not to admit him to familiarities; though his Lordship seems ready enough to avail himself of all opportunities of being infinitely more assiduous than I wish him.

From Project Gutenberg

I concluded to find Monsieur Sordeville, remembering the advice Madame Dauberny had given me before her cicisbeo's arrival.

From Project Gutenberg