courtly

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: court=ly

CIDE DICTIONARY

courtly, a. [From Court.].

•  Relating or belonging to a court.  [1913 Webster]
•  Elegant; polite; courtlike; flattering.  [1913 Webster]

  "In courtly company or at my beads."  [1913 Webster]
•  Disposed to favor the great; favoring the policy or party of the court; obsequious.  Macaulay.  [1913 Webster]

courtly, adv. 

 In the manner of courts; politely; gracefully; elegantly.  [1913 Webster]
"They can produce nothing so courtly writ."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

courtly, adj. (courtlier, courtliest)
1 polished or refined in manners.
2 obsequious.
3 punctilious.

Idiom

courtly love the conventional medieval tradition of knightly love for a lady, and the etiquette used in its (esp. literary) expression.

Derivative

courtliness n.

Etymology

COURT

THESAURUS

courtly

adulatory, aristocratic, august, bland, blandishing, blarneying, buttery, cajoling, ceremonious, chivalric, chivalrous, civilized, complimentary, conventional, courtierly, dignified, fair-spoken, fawning, fine-spoken, flattering, formal, fulsome, gallant, gracious, grand, grave, gushing, honey-mouthed, honey-tongued, honeyed, imposing, insincere, insinuating, kingly, knightly, lofty, lordly, magisterial, majestic, mealymouthed, noble, obsequious, oily, oily-tongued, old-fashioned, old-world, prim, princely, queenly, regal, royal, sedate, slimy, slobbery, smarmy, smooth, smooth-spoken, smooth-tongued, soapy, sober, soft-soaping, solemn, starchy, stately, statuesque, stiff, stilted, studied, sycophantic, unctuous, venerable, wheedling, worthy

ROGET THESAURUS

courtly

Fashion

N fashion, style, ton, bon ton, society, good society, polite society, monde, drawing-room, civilized life, civilization, town, beau monde, high life, court, world, fashionable world, gay world, Vanity Fair, show, manners, breeding, air, demeanor, savoir faire, gentlemanliness, gentility, decorum, propriety, biens_eance, conventions of society, Mrs, Grundy, punctilio, form, formality, etiquette, point of etiquette, dress, custom, mode, vogue, go, rage, prevailing taste, fad, trend, bandwagon, furore, thing, in thing, craze, chic, last word, man of fashion, woman of fashion, man of the world, woman of the world, height of fashion, pink of fashion, star of fashion, glass of fashion, leader of fashion, arbiter elegantiarum, the beautiful people, the fashion set, upper ten thousand, elite, smart set, the four hundred, in crowd, fashionable, in fashion, a la mode, comme il faut, admitted in society, admissible in society, presentable, conventional, genteel, well-bred, well mannered, well behaved, well spoken, gentlemanlike, gentlemanly, ladylike, civil, polite, polished, refined, thoroughbred, courtly, distingue, unembarrassed, degage, janty, jaunty, dashing, fast, modish, stylish, chic, trendy, recherche, newfangled, all the rage, all the go, with it, in, faddish, in court, in full dress, in evening dress, en grande tenue, fashionably, for fashion's sake, a la francaise, a la parisienne, a l' anglaise, a l' americaine, autre temps autre mauers, chaque pays a sa guise.

Nobility

N nobility, rank, condition, distinction, optimacy, blood, pur sang, birth, high descent, order, quality, gentility, blue blood of Castile, ancien regime, high life, haute monde, upper classes, upper ten thousand, the four hundred, elite, aristocracy, great folks, fashionable world, peer, peerage, house of lords, house of peers, lords, lords temporal and spiritual, noblesse, noble, nobleman, lord, lordling, grandee, magnifico, hidalgo, daimio, daimyo, samurai, shizoku, don, donship, aristocrat, swell, three- tailed bashaw, gentleman, squire, squireen, patrician, laureate, gentry, gentlefolk, squirarchy, better sort magnates, primates, optimates, pantisocracy, king, atheling, prince, duke, marquis, marquisate, earl, viscount, baron, thane, banneret, baronet, baronetcy, knight, knighthood, count, armiger, laird, signior, seignior, esquire, boyar, margrave, vavasour, emir, ameer, scherif, sharif, effendi, wali, sahib, chevalier, maharaja, nawab, palsgrave, pasha, rajah, waldgrave, princess, begum, duchess, marchioness, countess, lady, dame, memsahib, Do$a, maharani, rani, personage of distinction, man of distinction, personage of rank, man of rank, personage of mark, man of mark, notables, notabilities, celebrity, bigwig, magnate, great man, star, superstar, big bug, big gun, great gun, gilded rooster, magni nominis umbra, every inch a king, noble, exalted, of rank, princely, titled, patrician, aristocratic, high-, well-born, of gentle blood, genteel, comme il faut, gentlemanlike, courtly, highly respectable, in high quarters, Adel sitzt im Gemuthe nicht im Gebluete, adelig und edel sind zweierlei, noblesse oblige.