Library / English Dictionary

GENTLEMAN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A man of refinement

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("gentleman" is a kind of...):

adult male; man (an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "gentleman"):

Don (a Spanish gentleman or nobleman)

gent (informal abbreviation of 'gentleman')

gentleman-at-arms (one of 40 gentlemen who attend the British sovereign on state occasions)

Derivation:

gentlemanly (befitting a man of good breeding)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A manservant who acts as a personal attendant to his employer

Example:

Jeeves was Bertie Wooster's man

Synonyms:

gentleman; gentleman's gentleman; man; valet; valet de chambre

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("gentleman" is a kind of...):

body servant (a valet or personal maid)

manservant (a man servant)

Credits

 Context examples: 

There is no other door, and nobody goes in or out of that one but, once in a great while, the gentleman of my adventure.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

We shall meet you here later, Hopkins, and see if we can come to closer quarters with the gentleman who has paid this visit in the night.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She was flattered by the gentleman’s attentions, and the effect was increased by the loudly expressed admiration of her mother.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Sergeant Tuson, of the City Police, was somewhat surprised, therefore to see a gentleman with a carpet bag come down the steps at twenty minutes past one.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Mr. Mugridge was sleepily spluttering that he was a gentleman’s son.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Olney paused for effect, then added, "And what they didn't tell us was that every gentleman should have studied Latin, but that no gentleman should know Latin."

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Is not that gentleman Dr. Van Helsing?

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Mr. Elton's situation was most suitable, quite the gentleman himself, and without low connexions; at the same time, not of any family that could fairly object to the doubtful birth of Harriet.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Let him then name the gentleman with whom he would break a spear.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)