c o u 
To COURT, v. a. To woo ; to folicit a woman to 
marriage : 
Follow a fliadow, it flies you ; 
Seem to fly it, it will purfue : 
So court a miftrefs, (lie denies you ; 
Let her alone, Ihe will court you. Ben Jonfon. 
Ev’n now, when filent fcorn is all they gain, 
A thoufand court you, though they court in vain. Pope. 
To folicit; to feek.—Their own eafe and fatisfadlion 
would quickly teach children to court commendation, 
and avoid doing what they found condemned. Locke. — 
To flatter; to endeavour to pleafe. 
COURT-BRED, part. adj. Bred at court: 
His mighty charge of fouls the prieft forgets, 
The court-bred lord his promifes and debts. Churchill. 
COURT-CARD, f. [probably corrupted from coat- 
card .] A pidtured card. Mafon’s Stippl. 
COURT-CHAPLAIN, J. One who attends the king 
to celebrate the holy offices.—The maids of honour have 
been fully convinced by a famous court-chaplain. Swift. 
COURT-CUPBOARD,/. A fide-board.— Court-cup. 
boards planted with flaggons, cans, cups, beakers, See. 
Chapman. 
COURT-DAY, f. Day on which juftice is folemnly 
adminiftered.—The judge took time to deliberate, and 
the next court-day he fpoke. Arbuthnot. 
COURT-DRESSER, f. One that drefles the court, 
or perfons of rank ; a flatterer.—There are many ways 
of fallacy ; fuch arts of giving colours, appearances, and 
refernblances, by this court-droffer, fancy. Locke. 
COURT-FAVOUR,/. Favours or benefits bellowed 
by princes.—We part with the bleffings of both worlds 
for pleafures, court-favours , and cornmiflions; and a.t laft, 
when we have fold ourlelves to our lulls, we grow fick 
of our bargain. VEf range. 
COURT-HAND, f. The hand or manner of writing 
anciently ufed in records and judicial proceedings.—He 
can make obligations, and write court-hand , Shakefpeare. 
COURT-LADY, f. A lady converfant or employed 
in court.—The lame ftudy, long continued, is as intole¬ 
rable to them, as the appearing long in the fame clothes 
or falhion is to a court-lady. Locke. 
COURT of ALDERMEN, a duller of fmall iflands, 
or rocks, near the eall coall of New Zealand, in the 
fouthern Pacific Ocean, about half a league in extent 
every way, and five leagues from the main land. Lat. 36. 
SI- s. 
COURTANVAU'X, a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ment of the Loir and Cher: twelve miles well of Ven- 
dome. 
COUR'TENAY, a town of France, in the department 
of the I.oiret, and chief place of a canton, in the diilrict 
Montargis: four leagues and a half fouth-well of Sens. 
COUR'TEOUS, adj. \_courtcis, Fr.] Elegant of man¬ 
ners; polite; well-bred; full of acts of refpedl.—He 
hath deferved worthily of his country ; and his al'cent is 
not by fuch eafy degrees as thofe who have been fupple 
and courteous to the people. Shakefpeare. 
COUR'TEOUSLY, adv. Reipedtfully; civilly; com- 
plaifantly.—Whilft Chrilt was upon earth, he was not 
only eafy of accefs, he did not only courteovjly receive all 
that addrelfed themfelves to him, but alio did not dif- 
dain himfelf to travel up and down the country. Calamy, 
COUR'TEOUSNESS,y. Civility; complaifance. 
COURTERON', a tow n of France, in the department 
of the Aube : two leagues fouth of Bar-fur-Seine. 
COUR'TESAN, or Courtezan, f. [ cortifano , low 
Lat.] A woman of the town ; a prollitute; a (trumpet. 
■—’Tis a brave night to cool a courtezan. Shakefpeare .-— 
With them there are no Hews, no diflolute houles, no 
courtcfans, nor any thing of that kind ; nay they wonder, 
with deteftation, at you in Europe, which permit fuch 
things. Bacon. 
C O U 29.5 
COUR'TESY, f. [ courtoifie , Fr. cortf,a, Ital.] Ele¬ 
gance of manners; civility; complaifance.—Who have 
feen his eftate, his hofpitality, his courtefy to ftrangers. 
Pcackam. 
Courtefy is fooner found in lowly fliades 
With fmoky rafters, than in tap’ftry halls, 
And courts of princes, whence it firft was nam’d. Milton. 
An act of civility or refpedt: 
When I was laft at Exeter, 
The mayor in courtefy fliew’d me the caftle. Shakefpeare . 
The reverence made by women : 
Some country girl, fcarce to a courtfy bred, 
Would I much rather than Cornelia wed ; 
If, fupercilious, haughty, proud, and vain, 
She brought her father’s triumphs in her train. Dry den, 
A tenure, not of right, but by the favour of others; as, 
to hold upon courtefy. 
“ Full of Courtesy, full of craft.” This proverb 
applies to thofe infidious men, w hole pradlice is to fpeak 
you fair, in order more elfedtually to impofe or deceive. 
Sincere perfons are generally obferved to be the leaft 
given to ceremony ; and there is always ground for ful- 
picion, when a man is over full of his profeflion of 
friendlhip : fuch a one is very well anfwered by another 
proverb. 
“ Lefs of your Courtesy, and more of your purfe.” 
The Latins lay, Re opitulandum & non verbis. The Scots, 
Where there is o'er mickle courtefy, there is little kindnefs. The 
Italians have a very good proverbial rhime to tiie fame, 
purpofe : 
Chi ti fa piit carrezze che non foie, 
0 t’ hd gabbato, 0 gabbare ti vole. 
“ He that fliews you more civility than ufual, either has 
cheated you or intends it.” The French fay, Trip grand 
ref peel effufpeB : Too much refpedt is fufpicious. 
COUR'TESY, or Curtesy, of England, f. \_jus cu- 
rialiatatis Anglia.. ] Is where a man taketh a wife foiled in 
fee-fimple, or fee-tail general, or as heirefs in fpecial tail, 
and hath ilfue by her, male or female, born alive, which by 
any poffibility may inherit, and the wife dies; the hul- 
band holds the lands during his life ; and is called tenens 
per legem Anglia , or tenant by tire curtefy of England. 
See Tenures. Though this is called the curtfy of Eng¬ 
land, it appears to have been the eftablilhed law of Scot¬ 
land, where it was called curialitas. It is likewife ufed 
in Ireland by virtue of an ordinance of Henry III. So 
that probably tire word curtefy is in this fenle underftood 
rather to fignify an attendance upon the lord’s courts, 
than to denote any peculiar favour. 2 Comm. 126. 
Four things are requilite to give an ellate by the cur¬ 
tefy, viz. Marriage, feilin of the wife, ilfue, and death 
of the wife. Co. Lit. t, o. If land defeend to the wife 
after the hulband hath ilfue by her; or if the ilfue be 
dead at the time of her death, being born alive ; the 
hulband fliall be tenant by the curtefy. Alfo if a child 
is born alive, it is not material whether it isbaptifed, or 
ever heard to cry, to make the hulband tenant by the 
curtefy ; for if it is born alive, it is enough. Dy. 25. 8 
Rep. 34 - 
The words in the general editions of Littleton, 1 Inf. 
29, ar t-oyesou vife, but in Lettou and Machlinia’s edition 
they are neez vif, and are tranllated by lord Coke, born 
alive. May not the word vife in the firft inftance have 
been an error for vife, meaning thereby that the ilfim 
mull be heard, or fen-, fo as to afeertain its being alive ? 
But the child mult be fuch as by poffibility may inhe-.. 
rit; and therefore if land be given to a woman, and the 
heirs male of her body, and Hie takes hulband and hath' 
ilfue a daughter, and dies; as this ilfue. cannot pollibly 
inherit, the hulband lhall not be tenant by the curtefy. 
Terms de Ley .. It the child is ripped forth of the mo. 
tiler’s belly, after her death, though it be alive, it will 
not caufe tenancy by the. cijrtely; for this ought to be-. 
gin 
