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Gentleman
//ˈd͡ʒɛn.təl.mən// name, noun
Definitions
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname transferred from the nickname.
Noun
- 1 Any well-bred, well-mannered, or charming man.
"I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed."
- 2 a man of refinement wordnet
- 3 Any man. broadly, polite, term-of-address
"Please escort this gentleman to the gentlemen's room."
- 4 a manservant who acts as a personal attendant to their employer wordnet
- 5 A man of gentle but not noble birth, particularly a man of means (originally ownership of property) who does not work for a living but has no official status in a peerage; (UK law) an armigerous man ranking below a knight. historical
"Being a gentleman, Robert was entitled to shove other commoners into the gongpit but he still had to jump out of the way of the knights to avoid the same fate himself."
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- 6 An effeminate or oversophisticated man. derogatory
"Well, la-di-da, aren't you just a proper gentleman?"
- 7 An amateur or dabbler in any field, particularly those of independent means. derogatory, historical, sometimes, usually
"Latrobe had extensive dealings with Jefferson, the most prominent gentleman-architect in the United States."
- 8 An amateur player, particularly one whose wealth permits him to forego payment.
Etymology
From Middle English gentilman, morphologically gentle + man, partial calque of Old French gentilhome.
See also for "gentleman"
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