| 释义 |
gentility|dʒɛnˈtɪlɪtɪ|
Forms: 4 gentylete, 6 gentilite(e, gentil(l)ity(e, (gentyllitie), 6–7 gentil(l)itie, 6– gentility.
[ad. OF. and F. gentilité (now only in sense 1), ad. L. gentīlitās, f. gentīlis: see gentile, gentle, genteel.
The word serves as noun of quality both to Gentile and genteel, and also to gentle in those senses which correspond to obsolete senses of genteel.]
I. In senses related to gentle, genteel.
1. Gentle birth; honourable extraction; the fact of belonging to a family of gentle blood. Also, the personality of one who is well-born.
1340Ayenb. 89 Hy ham yelpeþ of hare gentylete uor þet hy weneþ by of gentile woze. 1583Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 22 What syrs? your boldnesse dooth your gentilitie warrant? a1677Barrow Serm. Wks. 1686 III. 244 Without which [Courage and Courtesie] gentility in a conspicuous degree is no more than a vain shew. 1697Collier Ess. Mor. Subj. i. (1709) 61 An ancient Gentility does not necessarily convey to us any Advantage either of Body or Mind. 1791Boswell Johnson xix. (1831) I. 507 A new system of gentility might be established. 1820Scott Abbot v, We must have a screened seat for you in the chapel, that your gentility may be free from the eyes of common folks! 1877Mrs. Oliphant Makers Flor. iv. 105 He had no claim to gentility and was only..an Italian clown.
quasi-personified.1641Lond. Love 1 Gentility without wealth staggers like a sicke man. 1659Gentl. Calling (1696) 1 Gentility has long since confuted Job's Aphorism, Man is born to labour. 1873Browning Red Cott. Nt.-cap 945 In just the place..Where aboriginal gentility Will scout the upstart. 1874Miss Mulock Thy Mother & I (Tauchn.) 89 Well-to-do commonalty loves to patronise poor gentility.
†b. concr. People of gentle birth; gentlefolks. Also, the gentility: the gentry. Obs.
a1577Sir T. Smith Commw. Eng. (1609) 36 The Nobility, the rest of the gentilitie, & the yeomanrie. 1587Harrison England ii. vi. (1877) i. 147 As..in the gentilitie, so in the wealthie commonaltie the like desire of glasse is not neglected. 1589Cogan Haven Health iv. (1636) 27 Bread..made in forme of Manchet, as is used of the Gentility. 1594Carew Huarte's Exam. Wits xiii. (1596) 209 A..law that all those of their order shall be issued from gentilitie, both on the fathers side and the mothers. 1622T. Scott Belg. Pismire 27 Their breede is from the lazie scumme of counterfeit Gentilitie.
c. The rank or heraldic status of a gentleman.
1642W. Bird Mag. Honor 150 If one be a Gentleman by Office, and looseth his office, then he doth also lose his Gentility. 1827Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) I. vi. 361 Floyd was adjudged to be degraded from his gentility.
2. The quality of being gentle (in manners, etc.) or genteel.
†a. The manners, bearing, habits of life, etc., characteristic of a gentleman or gentlewoman; polish of manners, politeness. Obs.
1588Shakes. L.L.L. i. i. 129 A dangerous law against gentilitie. 1590Spenser F.Q. iii. vi. 1 Such wilde woodes should far expell All civile usage and gentility.
b. Social superiority, rank above the commonalty, as evidenced by, or asserted on the ground of, manners or habits of life. Now chiefly in depreciative use. Occas. in pl. the gentilities.
1650Bulwer Anthropomet. Pref., Their long Nails define Idle Gentilitie's assured Signe. 1800E. Hervey Mourtray Fam. I. 3 Barely adequate to keep up the appearance of gentility. 1822Hazlitt Table-t. I. xvi. 376 Gentility is only a more select and artificial kind of vulgarity. 1832H. Martineau Life in Wilds iii. 35, I see no gentility in such airs. 1850L. Hunt Autobiog. I. iv. 158 My aunt..was a mighty cultivator of the gentilities, inward as well as outward. 1857Ruskin Pol. Econ. Art 141 Once get the wealthy classes to imagine that the possession of pictures by a given artist adds to their ‘gentility’. 1861Geo. Eliot Silas M. 64 Let him forsake a decent craft that he may pursue the gentilities of a profession. 1872Punch 18 May 202/2 There is nothing so vulgar as gentility.
c. quasi-personified. Also concr. in pl. Genteel people; also, marks of gentility.
1840Dickens Old. C. Shop xv, Poor streets where faded gentility essayed..to make its last feeble stand. 1856Miss Mulock J. Halifax xvii. 175 She..left the already vanquished gentilities of Norton Bury to amuse themselves. 1856Lever Martins of Cro' M. 571 The..smartened-up gentilities which once were the glories of Bond-street. 1858O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. viii. 70 Shabby gentility has nothing so characteristic as its hat. 1874Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. lxxxi. 1 The gentility which lisps the tune in wellbred whispers.
†d. Elegance, grace, refinement. Obs.
1753Hogarth Anal. Beauty xi. 138 The whole gentility of a figure..depends upon the first proportioning these lines..properly to one another. 1782V. Knox Ess. xxviii. I. 137 There is a certain gaiety and gentility diffused over it [the World], which gives it a peculiar grace.
†e. concr. in pl. ‘Nice’ or agreeable things. ironically.
1796Burney Metastasio III. 197 The last winter assailed me with rheumatism, tension of nerves, implacable hypochondria, and other gentilities.
II. In senses related to those of gentile.
†3. Gentile or heathen belief, doctrine, or practice; the state of being a gentile or heathen; heathenism, paganism. Obs.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 38 b, She had left her gentilite, & leaned holle to the secte of þe sayd iewes. 1565Jewel Repl. Harding (1611) 302 The Heathens in their rude Gentility thought that Bacchus and Ceres had first found out..the vse of Bread and Wine. 1594Parsons Confer. Success. i. ix. 213 Two gentiles marryed together in ther gentility. 1650Bulwer Anthropomet. 153 Can either Gentility or Christianity be forgiven such an error?
†b. concr. The gentile, or heathen world; heathendom, heathen people. Obs.
1546Langley Pol. Verg. de Invent. i. iii. 6 b, Thus muche is of the Vaine Opinions of the Gentilitee. 1563J. Man Musculus' Commonpl. 150 b, It was showen many waies, which was the Churche of God, and which was Gentilitie. 1582N. T. (Rhem.) Matt. ii. 11 note, These treasures are as it were the first fruits of those riches and giftes, which..Gentility should offer to Christ.
4. Relationship between ‘gentiles’ or members of the same gens (cf. gentile B. 4); † the gens itself.
a1577Sir T. Smith Commw. Eng. iii. viii. (1589) 131 The surname is the name of the gentilitie and stocke which the sonne doth take of the father alwaies, as the old Romans did. 1883Maine Early Law & Cust. 283 The Romans, therefore, regarded ‘gentility’ as a kinship among men not essentially different from ‘agnation’. |