nobleman
(ˈnəʊb(ə)lmən)
[f. noble a. + man.]
1. One of the nobility; a peer.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 210 Lyke as a noble man y{supt} hath a iourney to do of necessite. 1580 G. Harvey in Spenser's Wks. (Grosart) I. 437 Any noblemans petitory or commendatorye letters. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia i. 3 The Noblemen [had] fiue or sixe [pendants] in an eare. 1678 Bunyan Pilgr. i. (1900) 88 There is not one of these Noblemen should have any longer a being in this Town. 1700 Dryden Pref. Fables Ess. (ed. Ker) II. 246 A certain nobleman.., beginning with a dog-kennel, never lived to finish the palace he had contrived. 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian i, A nobleman of one of the most ancient families of the kingdom of Naples. 1831 Sir J. Sinclair Corr. II. 350 Two Prussian noblemen who came to Scotland in 1806. 1855 Kingsley Westw. Ho! x, A condescension..on the part of a nobleman of Spain. |
b. Formerly, a nobleman's son as a member of the University of Oxford or Cambridge. Also attrib.
| 1682 Shadwell Medal 8 At Cambridge first your scurrilous Vein began, When sawcily you traduc'd a Nobleman. Note. A Lords Son, and all Noblemens Sons, are called Noblemen there. 1715 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) V. 105 Three or four Scholars of note and Distinction, one of them being a Nobleman..of Worcester Coll. Ibid. 118 All the Noblemen Scholars in town. a 1814 Bp. Watson Anecd. (1817) 29 Some defects in the University education, especially with respect to Noblemen and Fellow-Commoners. |
2. pl. The superior pieces in the game of chess.
| 1680 Cotton Compl. Gamester (ed. 2) 37 The Pawns are all alike, and each Nobleman hath one of them to wait upon him. 1761 Hoyle Games, Chess (1778) 145, I speak now, as supposing all the Noblemen are gone; if not, they are to attend your Pawns. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) IV. 639/2 The difference of the worth of pawns is not so great as that of noblemen. |
Hence ˈnoblemanly a.
| 1809–12 M. Edgeworth Absentee ix, I would give the contents of three such bills to be sure of such noblemanly conduct as yours. 1824 Heber Jrnl. I. 196 Nothing was gaudy, but all extremely respectable and noblemanly. 1832 F. A. Kemble Rec. of Girlhood (1878) III. 167 Being written in gentlemanly (noblemanly?) blank verse instead of turgid prose. |