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.
| c 1386 Chaucer Wife's T. 296 He wole han pris of his gentrye ffor he was born of a gentil house. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 190/2 Gentry, of awncetrye..ingenuitas. 1603 B. Jonson Sejanus v. x. (1605) M 1 b, We haue raised Seianus from obscure, and almost vnknowne Gentry. 1647 A. Ross Mystag. Poet. xiv. (1675) 362 'Tis madness to presume too much upon our birth and Gentry. 1815 Scott 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.| 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 243 Crystys servage ys grettest genterye. 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 8 Yeomen..that will not..change their condition, nor desire to be apparailed with the titles of gentrie. 1592 Greene Groat's W. Wit (1617) 3 What is Gentry if wealth bee wanting, but base seruile beggery. a 1613 Overbury A Wife, etc. (1638) 179 His gentry sits as ill upon him, as if he had bought it with his penny. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. (1839) 81 This kind of honour, commonly called gentry, hath been derived from the ancient Germans. 1828 Scott 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.| c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 205 Sumtyme curtesie & genterie was vertuouse lif & honest..but now it is turned in-to vanyte & nysete. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. Prol. 380 Of his [the lion's] genterye, Him deyneth nat to wreke him on a flye. c 1386 ― 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. c 1435 Torr. Portugal 283 Wolddes thow for thy gentrie, Do the lyonnys downe lye. 1513 Douglas æneis xi. iii. 7 That he wald..thame restor agane, of hys gentre. 1595 Gosson 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.| c 1325 Poem temp. Edw. II (Percy) liii, That is now the gentry In chawmbre & eke in halle. c 1400 Mandeville (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.
| c 1585 Faire Em i. 100 Our foes, That seek to root all Britain's Gentry [up]. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. v. i. 18, I am brought hither Among th' Italian Gentry. a 1635 Naunton 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. 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 10 The fore-feet [of the Bear]..are a dish for the Gentry. 1673 Lady's Call. i. v. §30 This seems to be the persuasion of many of our female gentry. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 18 ¶2 The common People are loud for Want of Bread, the Gentry have lost all Spirit and Zeal for their Country. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 119 Montague-house, in Bloomsbury, with a number of others of the nobility and gentry. 1807 Wordsw. White Doe iii. 36 Grave Gentry of estate and name. 1833 H. Martineau Loom & Lugger i. v. 90 Perceiving how the gentry of England are apparelled in smuggled goods. 1856 Emerson 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.)
| 1893 Stevenson Catriona 154 Saying he supposed I would set up to be gentry. |
† c. Gentlemen.
Obs.| 1645 Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 191 Pleasant walks..where the gentry and ladies used to take the air. |
3. In playful or contemptuous use: People, folks.
| 1717 Prior Lucius Epil. 22 The many-colour'd gentry there above, By turns are rul'd by tumult, and by love. 1759 Dilworth Pope 21 Not so eager and greedy as most of the Parnassian gentry. 1794 Nelson 9 July in Nicolas Disp. (1845) I. 431 My Agamemnon's Carpenter at Bastia made us much better platforms than these gentry. 1807–8 W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 35 We have determined to let these crusty gentry know what kind of satisfaction they are to expect from us. 1810 Sporting Mag. XXXVI. 145 A tolerable muster of amateurs and boxing gentry. 1864 Burton Scot Abr. I. v. 261 For these gentry [the students] imbibed a great amount both of restlessness and capriciousness. |
| trans. 1876 Geo. 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.| 1880 Antrim & Down Gloss., Gentry, the fairies. Gentry bushes, ‘fairy thorns’, etc. They are sacred to the ‘good people’, and are therefore let alone. 1894 W. 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).
| 1563 Mirr. for Mag., Buckingham lxxv. 3 To gentrye state auauncing him from nought. 1567 Harman Caveat (1869) 84 A gentry cofe, a noble or gentleman, a gentry morte, a noble or gentle woman. 1610 Rowlands Martin Mark-all E ij b, Gentry mort, a Gentlewoman. 1641 Brome Joviall Crew ii. Wks. 1873 III. 388 And Scraps of the Dainties of Gentry Cofe's Feast. 1785 Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue, Gentry mort. 1837 Disraeli Venetia i. xiv, The gentry cove will be romboyled by his dam. 1873 Browning Red Cott. Nt.-cap 132 The..gentry-fashioned, old-style haunts of sleep. 1881 Blackmore Christowell ii, Why, Parson Tom Short was the only gentry-man. |