Brusque sibling embraces sweetheart and makes formal greeting (8)

I believe the answer is:

curtsies

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'makes formal greeting' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with motion as well as being verbs in their -s form.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?

'brusque sibling embraces sweetheart' is the wordplay.
'brusque' becomes 'curt' (synonyms).
'sibling' becomes 'sis' (short for sister).
'embraces' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'sweetheart' becomes 'e' (the middle letter or heart of 'sweet').
'sis' enclosing 'e' is 'sies'.
'curt'+'sies'='CURTSIES'

'and' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for curtsies that I've seen is " Bending of the knees as gestures of respect".)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.

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