word describing hand motion while bowing

I probably have seen this happen at various times in movies set in eras where people were very obsequious to royalty. The action I am trying to find the word for is a motion of the hand in a kind of circular motion or spiral (generally towards and away from oneself) while bowing towards someone, often while slowly moving backwards.

My first thought was "genuflect" although to me that invokes the image of someone making the sign of the cross (although the dictionary doesn't seem to mention this, or in fact any hand movement - it seems to be closer to bowing then the hand movement) and I am looking for a word without any religious connotations.

My second thought was "flourish" as that seems to be technically correct to some degree in the sense of "a bold or extravagant gesture or action, made esp. to attract the attention of others", but this word seems to have too many meanings that might confuse, and I am not sure anybody would recognize what I was talking about unless I put a lot of context into the sentence with it, or maybe even if I did!

Solution 1:

How about "twirl"? I think "flourish" would effectively convey what you are talking about to anyone familiar with the gesture, but "twirl of the hand" might give more of a physical hint to someone less familiar.

Solution 2:

I would think flourish captures its inclusion in a bow (per Emily Post's Etiquitte readable at http://www.bartleby.com/95/4.html), but she is not specifically referring to this motion as far as I read it.

I think salute, homage, or obesiance could also work.

In nearly any cases, an explanation would be necessary.