gentry
[jen-tree]
- wellborn and well-bred people.
- (in England) the class below the nobility.
- an upper or ruling class; aristocracy.
- those who are not members of the nobility but are entitled to a coat of arms, especially those owning large tracts of land.
- (used with a plural verb) people, especially considered as a specific group, class, or kind: The polo crowd doesn't go there, but these hockey gentry do.
- the state or condition of being a gentleman.
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Origin of gentry
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for gentry
Contemporary Examples
But the new rich, particularly the young, tend to be more progressive, or at least gentry liberal.
Gentry domination requires allies with a broader social base and their own political power.
The Beltway gentry gets a great deal on government-provided health care—but they think your plan needs cutting.
If Wall Street wants to join the “progressive” gentry parade again, as it did in 2008, Republican should encourage them.
Historical Examples
You will have wealth, station—a name among the first in the gentry of England.
Night and Morning, CompleteEdward Bulwer-Lytton
I suppose you have no objection this time to bestow a few bullets on these gentry?
The Field of IceJules Verne
The guests comprised the gentry of the neighbourhood, and also many from a distance.
Adventures and RecollectionsBill o'th' Hoylus End
But that only makes him angry, and he says dreadful things about the gentry.
The Silver Box (First Series Plays)John Galsworthy
The people are coming in hundreds—aye, in thousands—the gentry will follow; they must.
Mistress WildingRafael Sabatini
gentry
- persons of high birth or social standing; aristocracy
- British persons just below the nobility in social rank
- informal, often derogatory people, esp of a particular group or kind
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Word Origin
C14: from Old French genterie, from gentil gentle
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for gentry
n.
c.1300, "nobility of rank or birth," from Old French genterise, variant of gentilise "noble birth, gentleness," from gentil (see gentle). Meaning "noble persons" is from 1520s. Earlier in both senses was gentrice (c.1200 as "nobility of character," late 14c. as "noble persons"). In Anglo-Irish, gentry was a name for "the fairies" (1880), and gentle could mean "enchanted" (1823).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper