courtship

noun

1. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)The act of paying court, that is, demonstrating such politeness and respect as is traditionally given at a court (“a formal assembly of a sovereign's retinue”).

   “Our ſelfe and Buſhie, / Obſerued his courtſhip to the common people, / How he did ſeeme to diue into their harts, / With humble and familiar courteſie, / What reuerence he did throw away on ſlaues, [...]”

   “So reverend Juno headlong flew, and 'gainst her stomach striv'd. / For (being amongst th' immortal gods, in high heaven, soon arriv'd, / All rising, welcoming with cups her little absence then) / She all their courtships overpast with solemn negligence, / Save that which fair-cheek'd Themis show'd, and her kind cup she took: [...]”

   “The Magistrate whose Charge is to see to our Persons, and Estates, is to bee honour'd with a more elaborate and personall Courtship, with large Salaries and Stipends, that hee himselfe may abound in those things whereof his legall justice and watchfull care gives us the quiet enjoyment.”

2. (countable, uncountable)The act of paying court, that is, demonstrating such politeness and respect as is traditionally given at a court (“a formal assembly of a sovereign's retinue”).

   “More validitie, / More honourable ſtate, more courtſhip liues / In carrion flyes, than Romeo: they may ſeaze / On the white wonder of faire Iuliets skinne, / And ſteale immortall kiſſes from her lips; / But Romeo may not, he is baniſhed.”

   “Be merry, and employ your cheefeſt thoughts / To Courtſhip, and ſuch faire oſtents of loue, / As ſhall conueniently become you there.”

   “The pleasantest part of a man's life is generally that which passes in courtship, provided his passion be sincere, and the party beloved kind with discretion.”

   “[T]he friend's father and mother were quite agreeable to her being married, and the whole courtship was in consequence as flat and common-place as it was possible to imagine.”

   “Their courtship passed as something instantly forgotten, like an enchantment, or a mistake.”

3. (broadly, countable, uncountable)The act of paying court, that is, demonstrating such politeness and respect as is traditionally given at a court (“a formal assembly of a sovereign's retinue”).

   “Theſe bellowing exploſions [of the bittern] are chiefly heard from the beginning of ſpring to the end of autumn; and, however awful they may ſeem to us, are the calls to courtſhip, or of connubial felicity.”

4. (countable, figuratively, uncountable)The act of paying court, that is, demonstrating such politeness and respect as is traditionally given at a court (“a formal assembly of a sovereign's retinue”).

   “His head grows fevered, and his pulse / The quick successive throbs convulse; / In vain from side to side he throws / His form, in courtship of repose; [...]”

5. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)Elegance or propriety of manners fitting for a court; courtliness; (by extension) courteous or polite behaviour; courtesy.

   “King. How Madame? Ruſsians? / Quee[n]. I [i.e., ay] in trueth My Lord. / Trim gallants, full of Courtſhip and of ſtate.”

6. (obsolete, uncountable)The pursuit of being a courtier, such as exercising diplomacy, finesse, etc.; also, the artifices and intrigues of a court; courtcraft.

   “The Frenchman (not altered from his owne nature) is wholly compact of deceivable courtship, and (for the most part) loues none but himselfe and his pleasure: yet though he be the most Grand Signeur of them all, he will say, A vostre service et commandemente monsieur [at your service and command, monsieur], to the meanest vassaile he meetes.”