Meaning of cicisbea | Babel Free

Definitions

The female companion or lover of a (chiefly married) man, especially in eighteenth-century Italy.

historical

Examples

“The instant he was taken ill, he was persuaded he should dye, and refused to see anybody; even my neighbour, Anna Frescobaldi, his Cicisbea of 30 years standing was forbid.”

“Bonducci […] had been actively courting Walpole with such projects as his Italian translation of Alexander Pope's Rape of the Lock, which he dedicated to Horace Walpole's cicisbea Elisabetta Capponi.”

CEFR level