Other forms: obeisances
An obeisance is a bow or gesture of deep respect. Make an obeisance, low obeisance, an obeisance to the king.
It covers the act and the attitude together, so paying obeisance means showing submission as much as bending. It comes from the French for obeying, and the older English sense was obedience itself. Note the pronunciation, which is closer to obey than to obese.
1nounobeisanceA bow or gesture of deep respect.
“The courtiers made deep obeisance as the emperor entered the hall.”
obeisance is a gesture.
Old French obeissance means obedience, from obeir, to obey, from Latin oboedire.
Latin
oboediō
Old French
obeissance
Middle English
obeisaunce — obedience, obeisance
English, today
obeisance
Built from
From Middle English obeisaunce (“obedience, obeisance”), from Old French obeissance, derived from obeissant (“obedient”), participle of obeir (“to obey”), from Latin oboediō, obēdiō; ob- (“to, for”) + audiō (“to hear”). Cognate with a doublet of obedience.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA