[Fr., f. bienséant, f. bien well + séant, pr. pple. of seoir to befit. Rather common in Eng. use about end of 18th and beginning of 19th c.] Decorum; propriety.
[1665. Boyle, Occas. Refl. (1675), Pref. 20. The Laws of Decorum or, as the French call it Bien-seance.]
1788. Walpoliana, lxviii. 34. Those northern countries are rigid in the bienséance.
1818. Scott, Rob Roy, xiv. Bred in a country where much attention is paid … to bienséance.
1823. Byron, Juan, XIV. lxvii. At least as far as bienséance allows.
