| 释义 |
gentry|ˈdʒɛntrɪ|
Forms: 4–5 gent(e)ry(e, 4–6 gentre, 4–7 gent(e)rie, (5 gentri), 4– gentry.
[app. an altered form of gentrice, the final sound of which may have been taken as a plural ending. But cf. gentlery.]
1. Rank by birth (usually, high birth; rarely in neutral sense). Obs. exc. arch.
c1386Chaucer Wife's T. 296 He wole han pris of his gentrye ffor he was born of a gentil house. c1440Promp. Parv. 190/2 Gentry, of awncetrye..ingenuitas. 1603B. Jonson Sejanus v. x. (1605) M 1 b, We haue raised Seianus from obscure, and almost vnknowne Gentry. 1647A. Ross Mystag. Poet. xiv. (1675) 362 'Tis madness to presume too much upon our birth and Gentry. 1815Scott Guy M. xxxviii, MacCasquil..feeling the propriety of asserting his superior gentry in the presence of Mr. Pleydell and Colonel Mannering.
b. The quality or rank of gentleman. arch.
1447O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 243 Crystys servage ys grettest genterye. 1570–6Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 8 Yeomen..that will not..change their condition, nor desire to be apparailed with the titles of gentrie. 1592Greene Groat's W. Wit (1617) 3 What is Gentry if wealth bee wanting, but base seruile beggery. a1613Overbury A Wife, etc. (1638) 179 His gentry sits as ill upon him, as if he had bought it with his penny. 1651Hobbes Leviath. (1839) 81 This kind of honour, commonly called gentry, hath been derived from the ancient Germans. 1828Scott F.M. Perth xvi, The Provost told me..that our acquaintance, the Devil's Dick, was to wave his gentry.
†c. What is characteristic of a gentleman; polish of manners, good breeding; also courtesy, generosity; an instance of good-breeding, a gentlemanlike action. Obs.
c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 205 Sumtyme curtesie & genterie was vertuouse lif & honest..but now it is turned in-to vanyte & nysete. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. Prol. 380 Of his [the lion's] genterye, Him deyneth nat to wreke him on a flye. c1386― Pars. T. ⁋527 Hem þat..holden it a gentrie or manly dede. 14..Sir Beues (MS. M.) 211 For thy genterye, Thus cowardly let me nat dye. c1435Torr. Portugal 283 Wolddes thow for thy gentrie, Do the lyonnys downe lye. 1513Douglas æneis xi. iii. 7 That he wald..thame restor agane, of hys gentre. 1595Gosson Quips Upst. Gentlew. 240 in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 260 They are but puppets richly dight: True gentrie they have put to flight.
†d. A practice, style of dress, etc., characteristic of gentle-folks; ‘the fashion’. Obs.
c1325Poem temp. Edw. II (Percy) liii, That is now the gentry In chawmbre & eke in halle. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xxxiv. 154 Þat think þaim es a grete noblay and a grete gentry. And þe gentry of wymmen þare es to hafe smale fete.
2. People of gentle birth and breeding; the class to which they belong; in modern English use spec. the class immediately below the nobility.
c1585Faire Em i. 100 Our foes, That seek to root all Britain's Gentry [up]. 1611Shakes. Cymb. v. i. 18, I am brought hither Among th' Italian Gentry. a1635Naunton Fragm. Reg. (Arb.) 44 He..despised his Jury— tho' of the Order of Knighthood, and of the speciall Gentry—claiming the privilege of trial by the peers and baronage of the realm. 1661Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 10 The fore-feet [of the Bear]..are a dish for the Gentry. 1673Lady's Call. i. v. §30 This seems to be the persuasion of many of our female gentry. 1709Steele Tatler No. 18 ⁋2 The common People are loud for Want of Bread, the Gentry have lost all Spirit and Zeal for their Country. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. II. 119 Montague-house, in Bloomsbury, with a number of others of the nobility and gentry. 1807Wordsw. White Doe iii. 36 Grave Gentry of estate and name. 1833H. Martineau Loom & Lugger i. v. 90 Perceiving how the gentry of England are apparelled in smuggled goods. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Relig. Wks. (Bohn) II. 98 It is the church of the gentry; but it is not the church of the poor.
b. quasi-adj. (Cf. gentrice B.)
1893Stevenson Catriona 154 Saying he supposed I would set up to be gentry.
†c. Gentlemen. Obs.
1645Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 191 Pleasant walks..where the gentry and ladies used to take the air.
3. In playful or contemptuous use: People, folks.
1717Prior Lucius Epil. 22 The many-colour'd gentry there above, By turns are rul'd by tumult, and by love. 1759Dilworth Pope 21 Not so eager and greedy as most of the Parnassian gentry. 1794Nelson 9 July in Nicolas Disp. (1845) I. 431 My Agamemnon's Carpenter at Bastia made us much better platforms than these gentry. 1807–8W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 35 We have determined to let these crusty gentry know what kind of satisfaction they are to expect from us. 1810Sporting Mag. XXXVI. 145 A tolerable muster of amateurs and boxing gentry. 1864Burton Scot Abr. I. v. 261 For these gentry [the students] imbibed a great amount both of restlessness and capriciousness.
trans.1876Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. iv. xxix, The broken discourse of poultry and other lazy gentry in the afternoon sunshine.
b. ? Anglo-Irish. The fairies. Also attrib.
1880Antrim & Down Gloss., Gentry, the fairies. Gentry bushes, ‘fairy thorns’, etc. They are sacred to the ‘good people’, and are therefore let alone. 1894W. B. Yeats Celtic Twilight 94 The night-capped heads of faery-doctors may be thrust from their doors to see what mischief the ‘gentry’ are doing.
4. attrib. and Comb., as gentry-man (dial.), gentry-state; gentry-fashioned adj.; gentry cove, mort thieves' slang (see quot. 1567).
1563Mirr. for Mag., Buckingham lxxv. 3 To gentrye state auauncing him from nought. 1567Harman Caveat (1869) 84 A gentry cofe, a noble or gentleman, a gentry morte, a noble or gentle woman. 1610Rowlands Martin Mark-all E ij b, Gentry mort, a Gentlewoman. 1641Brome Joviall Crew ii. Wks. 1873 III. 388 And Scraps of the Dainties of Gentry Cofe's Feast. 1785Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue, Gentry mort. 1837Disraeli Venetia i. xiv, The gentry cove will be romboyled by his dam. 1873Browning Red Cott. Nt.-cap 132 The..gentry-fashioned, old-style haunts of sleep. 1881Blackmore Christowell ii, Why, Parson Tom Short was the only gentry-man. |