ci·cis·be·o

(chē′chēz-bā′ō′)

n. pl. ci·cis·be·i (-bā′ē′)

The male lover or companion of a married woman, especially in 18th-century Europe.

[Italian, of unknown origin.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

cicisbeo

(tʃitʃizˈbɛːo)

n, pl -bei (-ˈbɛːi)

(Historical Terms) the escort or lover of a married woman, esp in 18th-century Italy

[C18: Italian, of uncertain origin]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

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References in periodicals archive

His study of the Countess of Albany's connections with the court of George III is of particular interest; even more interesting are the pages dedicated to the Countess's journey through the English countryside in July and August with her cicisbeo (as Walpole called him).

L'Inghilterra di Vittorio Alfieri e altri studi alfieriani

Chapter 8 ("Morals and Malcontents") brings together such typically settecento phenomena as the libretto dedication to the ladies, the cicisbeo (male escort), the castrato, and the vogue for bourgeois sensibility.

Opera and Sovereignty: Transforming Myths in Eighteenth-Century Italy

He played at being a cicisbeo, or official escort for a married lady (who might or might not be also his lover).

Horace in Italy: discovering a gothic imagination

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