Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A man of gentle or noble birth or superior social position.
- noun A well-mannered and considerate man with high standards of proper behavior.
- noun A man of independent means who does not need to have a wage-paying job.
- noun A man.
- noun Used as a form of address for a group of men.
- noun A manservant; a valet.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A man of good family; a man of good or gentle birth; in England, specifically, any man above the social rank of yeoman, including noblemen; in a more limited sense, a man who without a title bears a coat of arms, or whose ancestors have been freemen; one of the class holding a middle rank between the nobility and yeomanry.
- noun In a loose sense, any man whose breeding, education, occupation, or income raises him above menial service or an ordinary trade.
- noun A man of good breeding, courtesy, and kindness; hence, a man distinguished for fine sense of honor, strict regard for his obligations, and consideration for the rights and feelings of others.
- noun As a polite form of speech, a man in general; any man, but particularly, where discrimination is used, any man of respectable appearance or good manners; in the plural, a form of address to a company of men, or to all the men in an audience: as, welcome, gentlemen; ladies and gentlemen.
- noun The body-servant or personal attendant of a man of rank.
- noun An apparatus used in soldering circular pewter ware. It is a revolving pedestal, adjustable by a side-screw to any height.
- noun [Perhaps an adaptation of another name of the same bird, Jan van Gent.] The white gannet or solan goose, Sula bassana.
- noun An invalid or disabled soldier who made his living by begging.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A man well born; one of good family; one above the condition of a yeoman.
- noun One of gentle or refined manners; a well-bred man.
- noun (Her.) One who bears arms, but has no title.
- noun The servant of a man of rank.
- noun A man, irrespective of condition; -- used esp. in the plural (= citizens; people), in addressing men in popular assemblies, etc.
- noun one of the highest class of commoners at the University of Oxford.
- noun one who ushers visitors into the presence of a sovereign, etc.
- noun an usher belonging to the Order of the Garter, whose chief duty is to serve as official messenger of the House of Lords.
- noun [Eng.] a band of forty gentlemen who attend the sovereign on state occasions; formerly called
gentlemen pensioners .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
well‐mannered orcharming man - noun A
man ofbreeding or higherclass . - noun A polite term referring to a
man . - noun in plural only A polite form of address to a group of men.
- noun Toilets intended for use by men.
- noun cricket A
cricketer of independent wealth, who does not (require to) get paid to play the sport - noun euphemistic, of a man
Amateur .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a manservant who acts as a personal attendant to his employer
- noun a man of refinement
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Then William Ions, the express-boy, being shewn to the last witness, St. John, he says, "this is the boy whom I saw sent with one of the two expresses that was sent that night; this lad went with the express to the Port-admiral at Deal, I believe; it was the express that Mr. Wright gave him from the gentleman who was there; _from that gentleman_."
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"Prof. gentleman" a _perfect gentleman_; cool, quiet, thoughtful, and _perfectly competent to execute his undertaking_.
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But every gentleman is a _gentleman_ to his _valet_, for the qualities that distinguish the gentleman are every day and every hour manifested.
Etiquette Agnes H. Morton
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A member referring to another in the course of a debate does not say the gentleman from Manchester, but the honorable gentleman (written hon. gentleman) or, if he happens to be a privy councillor, the right honorable gentleman, or, if he is a member of one of the universities, or a member of one of the learned professions, the honorable and learned gentleman.
Chapter 4. American and English Today. 2. Differences in Usage Henry Louis 1921
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"Who was the gentleman with him -- I hope he was a _gentleman? _"
Bricks Without Straw Albion Winegar Tourg��e 1871
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He was a gentleman -- a true _gentleman_; at the first glance any one would have given him that honourable and rarely-earned name.
Olive A Novel Dinah Maria Mulock Craik 1856
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In the mean time, a valet of the wardrobe delivered to a gentleman of the chamber the socks and garters, which the _gentleman_ presented to the monarch, and which socks his majesty deigned to draw on himself.
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The Doctor says, "when I mentioned that I might appear to have _views of commerce, as a merchant_, or of curiosity as a traveller," &c. -- "that there was a gentleman in Petersburg with whom some _in America_ had a correspondence, who had given hints of the utility," &c. -- "and that I could _perhaps by means of that gentleman_ make acquaintance," &c.
The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Vol. VIII Jared Sparks 1827
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You dies _straight, _ like a gentleman -- not cribbled up like a snow-fish, chucked out on the ice of the river St Lawrence, with your knees up to your nose, or your toes stuck into your arm-pits, as does take place in some of your foreign complaints; but straight, quite straight, and limber, like a _gentleman_.
Peter Simple; and, The Three Cutters, Vol. 1-2 Frederick Marryat 1820
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You dies _straight_, like a gentleman -- not cribbled up like a snow-fish, chucked out on the ice of the river St. Lawrence, with your knees up to your nose, or your toes stuck into your arm-pits, as does take place in some of your foreign complaints; but straight, quite straight, and limber, like a _gentleman_.
Peter Simple Frederick Marryat 1820
bilby commented on the word gentleman
CD 8. None of the other dictionaries suggest anything similar.
April 11, 2011