gentlefolks

Mrs. Poyser has something almost of Yankee shrewdness and angularity; but the figure of a New England rural housewife would lack a whole range of Mrs. Poyser's feelings, which, whatever may be its effect in real life, gives its subject in a novel at least a very picturesque richness of color; the constant sense, namely, of a superincumbent layer of "gentlefolks," whom she and her companions can never raise their heads unduly without hitting.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 18, No. 108, October, 1866 Various

Go along about your business, miss; and don't you preshume to come to such a house as this durin 'gentlefolks' dinner-hours another time.

Henry Dunbar A Novel 1875

But Katy didn't care what "gentlefolks" did or did not do, and insisted upon having Punch called back.

What Katy Did Next Susan Coolidge 1870

"They are real gentlefolks, that is what they are.

Doctor Luttrell's First Patient Rosa Nouchette Carey 1874

In the case of "gentlefolks" the question is generally solved to the satisfaction of everybody by the man marrying the woman, and by his gracefully presenting "veils of friendship" to all her relations and friends, together with articles of food; but if by mischance she should be placed in an awkward position before the eyes of the world, and the man will not hear of a matrimonial union, then efforts are made to prevent the birth of the child alive.

In the Forbidden Land Arnold Henry Savage Landor 1894

He had the character, among the gentlefolks, of being such a well-behaved man, that they were determined to bring him in.

Charles Dickens and Uriah Heep hradzka 2010

'Why you've no nous, Mr. Dubster; Mrs. Purdle's a very good sort of woman and the best friend I have in the world, perhaps, at the bottom; but she i'n't a sort of person to talk of before gentlefolks.

Camilla 2008

Tussaud modeled the heads immediately after these gentlefolks were guillotined.

Halloween Blogging 2008: "Residents" of Madame Tussaud's Chamber of Horrors, 1886 2008

Tussaud modeled the heads immediately after these gentlefolks were guillotined.

The Little Professor: 2008

'What your Honor pleases,' was the answer, 'but gentlefolks gives half-a-crown.'

Camilla 2008