ennoble, v.
(ɛˈnəʊb(ə)l)
Also 7–8 enoble, 6–8 innoble, 7 inoble.
[ad. F. ennoblir, f. en- (see en- prefix1) + noble, noble a.]
trans.
1. To give the rank of nobleman to (a person).
| 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, i. iii. 81 To ennoble those That scarse, some two dayes since were worth a Noble. a 1638 Mede On Deut. xxxiii. 8 Wks. i. 179 Levi was enobled..specially as being of kin to Moses the Prince of the Congregation. 1791 Gent. Mag. LXI. 1105 His [Columbus'] family was ennobled. 1812 H. & J. Smith Horace in Lond. 122 Virtue builds herself a throne, Ennobling whom she touches. 1845 Ld. Campbell Chancellors (1857) II. xxxviii. 146 Most of the Executors ennobled themselves, or took a step in the Peerage. |
2. To impart nobility to (a person or thing). Formerly also, to attribute nobility to.
| 1502 Ord. Crysten Men i. iv. (W. de W. 1506) 43 Enryched and ennobled with holy mysteryes. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. 103 The more to innoble and set foorth the excellencie of this honorable calling of a bishop. 1601 Shakes. All's Well ii. iii. 179 She..so ennobled, Is as 'twere borne so. 1647 R. Stapylton Juvenal 149 Cicero innobled the meannesse of his birth. 1838 Emerson Addr. Cambr. Mass. Wks. (Bohn) II. 191 He who does a good deed, is instantly ennobled. 1876 Green Short Hist. viii. §i. (1882) 451 The meanest peasant felt himself ennobled as a child of God. |
3. To impart a higher character to (a person or thing); to dignify, elevate, refine.
| 1636 E. Dacres tr. Machiavel's Disc. Livy II. 511 Mens hands and tongues two of their worthiest instruments to ennoble them. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 992 Much won that he his Love Had so enobl'd. 1713 Berkeley Ess. ix. in Guardian No. 70 Wks. III. 174 The Christian Religion ennobleth and enlargeth the mind. 1784 Cowper Task v. 603 The loss of all That can enoble man. 1825 in Hone Every-day Bk. I. 441 These palaces [are] now ennobled into a refuge. 1846 Trench Mirac. i. (1862) 118 The Son of God..ennobling all that He touches. |
† 4. To render famous or illustrious. Obs.
| 1565 Golding Caesar 266 b Surus, a Heduan, a man both for manhood and birth greatlye ennobled. a 1626 Bacon (J.), The Spaniards..ennobled some of the coasts thereof with shipwrecks. 1679 Plot Staffordsh. (1686) 407 Tho' the place..were enobled with the martyrdoms of a 1000 Christians. 1725 Pope Odyss. xxii. 313 Bear Thy death, ennobl'd by Ulysses' spear. 1775 Adair Amer. Ind. 378 They have..enobled themselves by war actions. |
5. Of light: To render conspicuous. Obs. rare.
| 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. v. iv. (1675) 310 The light that ennobles him, tempts Inquisitive men to keep him..from sleeping. 1667 ― Orig. Formes & Qual., Stiriæ, that enoble the darker Body. |