gentlewoman
(ˈdʒɛnt(ə)lwʊmən)
[f. gentle a. + woman, after OF. gentilfemme, gentifemme.]
1. A woman of good birth or breeding.
| c 1230 Hali Meid. 9 Biset uuele as gentille wimmen mest alle nu oworlde. 13.. Coer de L. 1574 As I am gentyl⁓woman, Kyng Rychard wol do yow but good. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xi. 240 Ihesus Crist on a Iewes doghter lighte Gentil womman though she were Was a pure pore mayde. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 20 For a gentille woman shuld haue no wrathe in hem, for thei aught to haue gentille herte, and faire and softe in ansuere. 1544 T. Phaer Pestilence (1553) N j b, [A] goodly pomaunder for gentlewemen and ladies. 1580 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 352 Here Gentlewomen you may see, how iustly men seeke to entrap you. Ibid. 370 Ladyes and Gentlewomen. 1625 Hart Anat. Ur. i. i. 8 As for you, Ladyes and Gentlewomen..let me intreate you, not to be too officiously busie. a 1748 Watts Improv. Mind (1801) 325 The good old gentlewoman trained them up precisely in the forms in which she herself was educated. 1801 Vince Elem. Astron. xxi. (ed. 2) 191 Some Gentlewomen in the country saw more than 16 stars. 1890 Besant Demoniac iv. 45 You are not fit to associate with gentlemen or to marry a gentlewoman! |
| fig. 1649 Davenant Love & Hon. v. 34/1 What thinke you of the stars now Caladine? Doe these small twinkling Gentlewomen Looke to their business well? |
b. old gentlewoman: in humorous or derisive sense;
cf. old lady.
| 1699 Bentley Phal. 517 There is not one Word in all the Epistles relating to the Old Gentlewoman. a 1715 in Amherst Terræ Fil. xv. (1726) 73 ‘Our holy mother [the church] was not permitted to take counsel for herself’. Poor old gentlewoman! What a sad thing that was! |
2. A female attendant (
orig. a gentlewoman by birth) upon a lady of rank. Now only
Hist.| 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) V. 373 Rosamunda entrede in to a bedde of a gentilwoman [L. domicilla] longynge to her. 1535 Coverdale Nahum ii. 7 The quene hir self shal be led awaye captyue, and her gentilwomen shall mourne. c 1661 in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 6 In this attendance he and Lady Rutland's waiting gentlewoman married. 1673 Rules Civility (ed. 2) 31 In visiting a Lady..it is not enough to salute her, but her Gentlewoman also, if she be then present. 1770 Foote Lame Lover ii. Wks. 1782 III. 49 For tho' I am..but a commoner, no gentlewoman's gentlewoman, has a prettier set of acquaintance. 1854 Mrs. Oliphant Magd. Hepburn II. 9 Himself and Mistress Isobel, her gentlewoman, were to accompany the lady. |
† 3. Comb.: appositive., as
gentlewoman-boy,
gentlewoman-heir,
gentlewoman-widow.
| 1340 Ayenb. 190 A gentil wymman wodewe zente to þe uore yzede Ion uif hondred pond of gold. 1608 R. Armin Nest Ninn. (1842) 36 The gentlewoman-boy tooke him by the heeles, and pulled him out. 1641 Brome Joviall Crew iv. ii. Wks. 1873 III. 431 We must finde a young Gentlewoman-Heire among you. |
Hence
ˈgentlewomanhood, the character or disposition natural to a gentlewoman.
| 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xlviii, What a high and noble appreciation of Gentlewomanhood. 1887 Mrs. C. Reade Maid o' the Mill II. xxxiii. 185 Her chastity, her Christian gentlewomanhood. |