gentleman
See also: Gentleman
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English gentilman, morphologically gentle + man, partial calque of Old French gentilhome.
Pronunciation edit
- IPA(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛn.təl.mən/
- (General American) IPA(key): [ˈd͡ʒɛɾ̃.ɫ̩.mən]
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file) - Hyphenation: gentle‧man
- Homophone: gentlemen
Noun edit
gentleman (plural gentlemen)
- (chiefly historical) 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 armiferous man ranking below a knight.
- 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.
- c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene ii:
- And when their ſcattered armie is ſubdu’d:
And you march on their ſlaughtered carkaſſes,
Share equally the gold that bought their liues,
And liue like Gentlmen in Perſea, […]
- 1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], Act I:
- But when Adam delued, and Eue ſpan,
VVho was then a Gentleman?
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- “ […] This is Mr. Churchill, who, as you are aware, is good enough to come to us for his diaconate, and, as we hope, for much longer; and being a gentleman of independent means, he declines to take any payment.” Saying this Walden rubbed his hands together and smiled contentedly.
- Any well-bred, well-mannered, or charming man.
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
- 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.
- 1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC:
- As a political system democracy seems to me extraordinarily foolish, […]. My servant is, so far as I am concerned, welcome to as many votes as he can get. […] I do not suppose that it matters much in reality whether laws are made by dukes or cornerboys, but I like, as far as possible, to associate with gentlemen in private life.
- 2011, Mike Pappas, Growing Up the Greek Way in the Big Apple, page 103:
- She wanted to go see a movie called Gigi, which I was not too thrilled about. But being a gentleman, I bit my tongue and said, “Okay.”
- (derogatory) An effeminate or oversophisticated man.
- Synonyms: cockney, puss-gentleman, sissy; see also Thesaurus:effeminate man
- Well, la-di-da, aren't you just a proper gentleman?
- (polite term of address) Any man.
- Synonym: sahib
- Coordinate terms: lady, gentlewoman, (historical) gentlelady
- Please escort this gentleman to the gentlemen's room.
- (usually historical, sometimes derogatory) An amateur or dabbler in any field, particularly those of independent means.
- Synonym: dilettante
- 2004, Mary N. Woods, “The First Professional: Benjamin Henry Latrobe”, in Keith L. Eggener, editor, American Architectural History: A Contemporary Reader, electronic edition, Routledge, →ISBN, page 119:
- Latrobe had extensive dealings with Jefferson, the most prominent gentleman-architect in the United States.
- (cricket) An amateur player, particularly one whose wealth permits him to forego payment.
- Coordinate terms: professional, (historical) player
Usage notes edit
- Although gentleman is used in reference to a man and gentlemen is used as a polite form of address to a group of men, it is more common to directly address a single gentleman as sir.
- The singular possesive of the sense "any well-bred, well-mannered, or charming man" can appear in ad hoc compounds to describe a polite way of doing something; e.g. a "gentleman's sweep" when a dominant basketball team allowed the opponent one win in a series[1].
Derived terms edit
Terms derived from gentleman
- April gentleman
- country gentleman
- first gentleman
- gent
- gentleman about town
- gentleman and scholar
- gentleman-at-arms
- gentleman-commoner
- gentleman cow
- gentleman farmer
- Gentleman Jim
- gentlemanliness
- gentlemanly
- gentleman of leisure
- gentleman of the back door
- gentleman's bet
- gentleman's C
- gentleman scientist
- gentleman's gentleman
- gentleman usher
- gentlemen's agreement
- gentlemen's club
- gentlemen's room
- ladies and gentlemen
- old gentleman
- put the beggar on the gentleman
- scholar and gentleman
- second gentleman
- temporary gentleman
- time gentlemen please
- walking gentleman
Related terms edit
Descendants edit
- Chinese Pidgin English: gentleman
- → Danish: gentleman
- → Esperanto: ĝentlemano
- → French: gentleman
- → Russian: джентльмен (džentlʹmen)
- → Mohegan-Pequot: gundermon
- → Polish: dżentelmen
- → Portuguese: gentleman
- → Spanish: gentleman
- → Yiddish: דזשענטעלמען (dzhentelmen)
Translations edit
man of breeding
|
well-mannered, or charming man
|
polite form of address to men
|
toilets intended for use by men
|
Chinese edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
Adjective edit
gentleman
See also edit
Chinese Pidgin English edit
Alternative forms edit
- 毡地文 (Chinese spelling)
Etymology edit
Noun edit
gentleman
- A respectful term for a person of either sex: gentleman, lady
- 1862, 唐景星 [Tong King-sing], 英語集全, volume 6, marginalia, page 39; republished as “Pidgin English texts from the Chinese English Instructor”, in Michelle Li, Stephen Matthews and Geoff P. Smith, editor, Hong Kong Journal of Applied Linguistics[2], volume 10, number 1, 2005, pages 79-167:
- 希郎温毡[sic – meaning ⿰口毡]地文'託其
*hi1 long4 wan1 zhin1[zhen1] di6 man4 tok3 ki4
He long one gentleman talkee.
He is talking with a gentleman.
- 希郎温毡[sic – meaning ⿰口毡]地文'託其
References edit
- Gow, W. S. P. (1924) Gow’s Guide to Shanghai, 1924: A Complete, Concise and Accurate Handbook of the City and District, Especially Compiled for the Use of Tourists and Commercial Visitors to the Far East, Shanghai, page 105: “Gentleman: does not always indicate the male sex. e.g. “outside have got two piece gentleman, one belong missee.” (Lunde.)”
French edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from English gentleman.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
gentleman m (plural gentlemen or gentlemans)
- gentleman, especially an anglophone one
Further reading edit
- “gentleman”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams edit
Romanian edit
Etymology edit
Unadapted borrowing from English gentleman.
Noun edit
gentleman m (plural gentlemeni)
Declension edit
Declension of gentleman
singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
indefinite articulation | definite articulation | indefinite articulation | definite articulation | |
nominative/accusative | (un) gentleman | gentlemanul | (niște) gentlemeni | gentlemenii |
genitive/dative | (unui) gentleman | gentlemanului | (unor) gentlemeni | gentlemenilor |
vocative | gentlemanule | gentlemenilor |
Spanish edit
Noun edit
gentleman m (plural gentlemen)
- British gentleman
Further reading edit
- “gentleman”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
Yola edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English gentilman.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
gentleman
- gentleman
- 1867, “DR. RUSSELL ON THE INHABITANTS AND DIALECT OF THE BARONY OF FORTH”, in APPENDIX:
- Gentleman Broune,
- Gentleman Browne.
References edit
- Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 126