genteelizev.
/dʒɛnˈtiːlʌɪz/, U.S. /dʒɛnˈtiˌlaɪz/ transitive. To make (a person or thing) genteel.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social class > nobility > rank > raising to noble rank > ennoble [verb (transitive)] > make aristocratic
genteelize1685
aristocratize1799
1685 H. Bold & W. Bold tr. in Latine Songs xlv. 136 If you do look Into a News Book, Be it but to advise How your Rents may arise, And new Cesses and Rates, To Genteelize your Estates.
1767 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy IX. xiii. 56 A man cannot dress, but his ideas get cloath'd at the same time; and if he dresses like a gentleman, every one of them stands presented to his imagination, genteelized along with him.
1827 E. Ruffin Jrnl. 19 Sept. in M. O'Brien Evening when Alone (1993) i. ii. 102 So far she had the advantage of genteelizing herself over me.
1865 Athenæum 11 Mar. 351/2 It is proposed to ‘genteelize’—as a friend calls it—one of the largest open spaces.
1999 Independent (Nexis) 11 Apr. I was the recipient of a classical education which was very Tory in its aspect, and yet the classics were falsely genteelised.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2021; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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