From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishobeisanceo‧bei‧sance /əʊˈbeɪsəns $ oʊ-/ noun [countable, uncountable] literary respect and obedience to someone or something, often shown by bending your head or the upper part of your bodymake/pay obeisance (to somebody/something) They made obeisance to the sultan.
Examples from the Corpus
obeisance• When they are successful a bell rings and a mechanical buddha lights up and makes a creaky obeisance.• Victory is both a felicitous dip of the head and a glorious obeisance towards the changed life that will surely follow it.• The grail itself was sin, none other than sin itself; what greater obeisance to Love itself than to part with all?• Alexei completed his obeisance, then sat up.• We all make obeisance to it.• In the meantime, let's not forget that icons are not for passive obeisance.• Was she about to make some obeisance to it?• Joseph saw Tran Van Hieu and his father make their obeisance gravely beside other high-ranking Annamese.make/pay obeisance (to somebody/something)• We all make obeisance to it.Origin obeisance (1300-1400) Old French obeir; → OBEY 