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单词 gentleman
释义

gentleman

See also: Gentleman

English

Etymology

From Middle English gentilman, morphologically gentle +‎ man, partial calque of Old French gentilhome.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛn.təl.mən/
  • (General American) IPA(key): [ˈd͡ʒɛɾ̃.ɫ̩.mən]
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Audio (AU)(file)
  • Hyphenation: gentle‧man
  • Homophone: gentlemen

Noun

gentleman (plural gentlemen)

  1. (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 […], part 1, 2nd edition, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, OCLC 932920499; 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, 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 4293071:
      “ […] 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.
  2. 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 222716698:
      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 5661828:
      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, Pappas, Mike, 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.”
  3. (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?
  4. (polite term of address) Any man.
    Synonym: sahib
    Coordinate terms: lady, gentlewoman, (historical) gentlelady
    Please escort this gentleman to the gentlemen's room.
  5. (usually historical, sometimes derogatory) An amateur or dabbler in any field, particularly those of independent means.
    Synonym: dilettante
    • 2004, Woods, Mary N., “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.
  6. (cricket) An amateur player, particularly one whose wealth permits him to forego payment.
    Coordinate terms: professional, (historical) player

Usage notes

  • 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.

Derived terms

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
  • walking gentleman
  • gentlewoman
  • gentlelady

Descendants

  • Chinese Pidgin English: gentleman
  • → Danish: gentleman
  • → Esperanto: ĝentlemano
  • → French: gentleman
  • → Georgian: ჯენტლმენი (ǯenṭlmeni)
  • → Mohegan-Pequot: gundermon
  • → Polish: dżentelmen
  • → Portuguese: gentleman
  • → Spanish: gentleman

Translations

Chinese Pidgin English

Alternative forms

  • 毡地文 (Chinese characters)

Etymology

From English gentleman.

Noun

gentleman

  1. A respectful term for a person of either sex: gentleman, lady
    • 1862, T‘ong Ting-Kü, Ying Ü Tsap T’sün, or The Chinese and English Instructor, volume 4, Canton, page 39:
      希郎温毡地文'託其
      Hei1 long4 wan1 zin1 dei6 man4 tok3 kei4.
      He is talking with a gentleman.
      (literally, “He long one gentleman talkee.”)

References

  • 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

Etymology

Borrowed from English gentleman.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /dʒɛn.tlə.man/
  • Audio(file)

Noun

gentleman m (plural gentlemen or gentlemans)

  1. gentleman, especially an anglophone one

Further reading

  • “gentleman”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

  • mélangent

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English gentleman.

Noun

gentleman m (plural gentlemeni)

  1. gentleman

Declension

Declension of gentleman
singularplural
indefinite articulationdefinite articulationindefinite articulationdefinite articulation
nominative/accusative(un) gentlemangentlemanul(niște) gentlemenigentlemenii
genitive/dative(unui) gentlemangentlemanului(unor) gentlemenigentlemenilor
vocativegentlemanulegentlemenilor

Spanish

Noun

gentleman m (plural gentlemen)

  1. British gentleman

Further reading

  • “gentleman”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English gentilman.

Noun

gentleman

  1. gentleman
    • 1867, “DR. RUSSELL ON THE INHABITANTS AND DIALECT OF THE BARONY OF FORTH”, in APPENDIX:
      Gentleman Broune,
      Gentleman Browne.

References

  • Jacob Poole (1867), 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, page 126
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