[a. Fr. étiquette (:—OF. estiquette). The primary sense in Fr. is represented by Eng. TICKET (an adoption either of the word or the synonymous étiquet:—estiquet): in OF. the word chiefly denotes a soldier’s billet. The transition from the sense ‘ticket, label’ to that of ‘prescribed routine’ presents no intrinsic difficulty, but its actual history in Fr. is not very clear; the other mod. Romanic langs. have adapted the word from Fr. in the secondary sense; It. etichetta, Sp. etiqueta (‘a book of ceremonies hid in the king’s palace,’ Del Pino Sp. Dict. 1763).]
1. a. The prescribed ceremonial of a court; the formalities required by usage in diplomatic intercourse. b. The order of procedure established by custom in the army or navy (esp. with reference to promotion), in parliament, etc. c. The conventional rules of personal behavior observed in the intercourse of polite society; the ceremonial observances prescribed by such rules. d. The unwritten code of honor by which members of certain professions (esp. the medical and legal) are prohibited from doing certain things deemed likely to injure the interests of their brethren, or to lower the dignity of the profession.
a. 1750. Chesterf., Lett., 19 March. Without hesitation kiss his [the Pope’s] slipper or whatever else the étiquette of that court requires. Ibid. (1792), IV. 187. Over head and ears engaged in ceremony and étiquette.
1796. Burke, Regic. Peace, iii. Wks. VIII. 329. Etiquette … had its original application to those ceremonial and formal observances practised at Courts…. The term came afterwards … to signify certain formal methods used in the transactions between sovereign states.
1865. Livingstone, Zambesi, v. 110. They keep perfect time in this species of court etiquette.
b. 1817. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, II. V. v. 512. It was to him that, in etiquette, the command of the expedition belonged.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 667. A proceeding, conducted … with such minute attention to prescriptive etiquette.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Etiquette. Naval or military observances, deemed to be law.
1875. Stubbs, Const. Hist., III. xx. 459. The later etiquette of procedure on money bills, will be sought in vain in the rolls of the mediæval parliaments.
c. 1768. Sterne, Sent. Journ., The Letter. I was not altogether sure of my etiquette, whether I ought to have wrote or no.
1779. J. Moore, View Soc. Fr., II. li. 21. For all etiquette of this nature is waved even in Germany at the tables d’ Hôtes.
1800. Mrs. Hervey, Mourtray Fam., IV. 10. A formal dinner; which, according to his ideas of etiquette, he thought himself obliged to give.
1851. Robertson, Serm., Ser. I. xviii. (1866), 301. Man is a slave … to etiquette.
1876. Miss Braddon, J. Haggard’s Dau., II. 164. After tea … the bondage of etiquette was loosened.
pl. 1859. Thackeray, Virgin., xxiii. 181. A little place with its pompous ways, small etiquettes and punctilios.
d. 1868. Rogers, Pol. Econ., ii. (1876), 14. The etiquette of certain professional functions prescribes that a service should be divided.
1888. Bryce, Amer. Commw., III. 382. A code of etiquette forbids them [lawyers] to undertake certain sorts of work.
† 2. A rule of etiquette; an observance prescribed by etiquette. Chiefly pl. Obs.
1771. Junius Lett., xlii. 225, note. This diplomatic lord has spent his life in the study and practise of etiquettes.
1779. Burgoyne, Lett. to Constituents (ed. 3), 7. A court etiquette was invented … viz. that the persons whose conduct was so put in question, should not appear at Court pending the enquiry.
1807. T. Cogan, Eth. Treat. Passions, I. ii. (R.). Ludicrous offences against the laws of custom, or the etiquettes of fashion.
1812. Edin. Rev., XX. 76. Some of the etiquettes known in our legal and parliamentary oratory.
1816. Keatinge, Trav. (1817), I. 277. Some of the etiquettes of his majesty’s court are rather whimsical.
3. In the primary Fr. sense: A label. rare.
1867. Vct. Pollington, Half round Old World, 121 German matches … with the remarkable lines, ‘If you want a light, I’ll shine so bright,’ printed on the etiquette.
Hence Etiquetted ppl. a., given up to etiquette.
1861. H. A. Tilley, Japan, 385. The contrast altogether between them and the etiquetted ladies of Europe.
