obeisance

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Demonstration of an obedient attitude, especially by bowing deeply; a deep bow which demonstrates such an attitude.
  2. An obedient attitude.

Pronunciation

/əˈbiː.səns/ /əʊˈbeɪ.səns/ /əˈbeɪ.səns/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-obeisance.wav /oʊˈbeɪ.səns/ /oʊˈbiː.səns/ En-us-obeisance.ogg

Word forms

obeisance obeisances obeisaunce obeissance abaisance

Etymology

From Middle English obeisaunce (“obedience, obeisance”), from Old French obeïssance, derived from obeïssant (“obedient”), participle of obeïr (“to obey”), from Latin oboediō, obēdiō; ob- (“to, for”) + audiō (“to hear”). Cognate with obedience.

Related words

Derived words

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.