Definition of Courtly

Merriam-Webster and Oxford Dictionaries give similar definitions of the word courtly:

Merriam-Webster:

of a quality befitting the court: elegant

Oxford:

very polite or refined, as befitting a royal court.

Other than that, each source has a slightly different addition. Merriam-Webster adds "insincerely flattering." Can anyone shed light on why that part exists? Can it also be used to describe someone who is overly polite?

Lastly, if you Google "Courtly Definition," it spits out a definition that includes "given to flattery." Can that be used to describe someone who accepted a flirtatious advance? For example, "The amount of chivalry exuded by this well-dressed man rendered the girl courtly."

Solution 1:

OED meaning 2a of the adjective courtly as applied to persons, together with its examples is the more usual sense in which the word is used:

2a. Of persons (or their manners): Having the manners or breeding befitting the Court; polished, refined, of a high-bred courtesy.

c1450 Crt. of Love 474 Be jolif, fressh, and fete, with thinges newe, Courtly with maner.

c1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 679 Se þat ye haue officers boþe courtly and connynge.

1580 J. Lyly Euphues & his Eng. (new ed.) f. 74v Philautus.., curteous by nature, and courtlye by countenaunce.

1633 J. Ford Loves Sacrifice i. sig. B2 The French are passing Courtly.

1647 C. Cotterell & W. Aylesbury tr. E. C. Davila Hist. Civill Warres France i. 17 Of a courtly..behavour.

1791 F. Burney Diary June (1842) V. 213 I could but accede, though I fear with no very courtly grace.

1852 M. R. Mitford in A. G. L'Estrange Life M. R. Mitford (1870) III. xiii. 234 The most courtly gentleman that he has seen in Europe.

1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People viii. 520 His manners were genial, and even courtly. (Oxford English Dictionary)

Sense 4a indicates that since the seventeenth-century - perhaps owing something to Shakespeare - there has existed a use of courtly to imply flattery. However as the latter word itself carries a connotation of "insincerity", I am at a loss to understand any difference between "flattery" and "insincere flattery". Whether courtly might be used to refer to someone who accepted a flirtatious advance would seem to me entirely to depend on context.

4a. In bad sense: Characterized by the fair words or flattery of courtiers.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Timon of Athens (1623) v. i. 27 To Promise, is most Courtly and fashionable. View more context for this quotation

1737 A. Pope Epist. of Horace ii. i. 13 In our own [days] (excuse some Courtly strains) No whiter page than Addison remains.

1768 H. Walpole Hist. Doubts 78 Truth sometimes escapes from the most courtly pens.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 120 A large and respectable minority voted against the proposed words as too courtly.

1870 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest (ed. 2) I. App. 717 A more impudent case of courtly falsehood can hardly be found. (Oxford English Dictionary.)