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nobility - 4 dictionary results

no⋅bil⋅i⋅ty

  [noh-bil-i-tee]
Use nobility in a Sentence
–noun, plural -ties.
1. the noble class or the body of nobles in a country.
2. (in Britain) the peerage.
3. the state or quality of being noble.
4. nobleness of mind, character, or spirit; exalted moral excellence.
5. grandeur or magnificence.
6. noble birth or rank.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME nobilite < L nōbilitās. See noble, -ity
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To nobility
no·bil·i·ty   (nō-bĭl'ĭ-tē)   
n.   pl. no·bil·i·ties
  1. A class of persons distinguished by high birth or rank and in Great Britain including dukes and duchesses, marquises and marchionesses, earls and countesses, viscounts and viscountesses, and barons and baronesses: "The old English nobility of office made way for the Norman nobility of faith and landed wealth" (Winston S. Churchill).
  2. Noble rank or status: Congress may not grant titles of nobility.
  3. The state or quality of being exalted in character.

[Middle English nobilite, the quality of being noble, from Old French, from Latin nōbilitās, from nōbilis, noble; see noble.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Nobility

No*bil"i*ty\, n. [L. nobilitas: cf. OF. nobilit['e]. See Noble.]

1. The quality or state of being noble; superiority of mind or of character; commanding excellence; eminence.

Though she hated Amphialus, yet the nobility of her courage prevailed over it. --Sir P. Sidney.

They thought it great their sovereign to control, And named their pride nobility of soul. --Dryden.

2. The state of being of high rank or noble birth; patrician dignity; antiquity of family; distinction by rank, station, or title, whether inherited or conferred.

I fell on the same argument of preferring virtue to nobility of blood and titles, in the story of Sigismunda. --Dryden.

3. Those who are noble; the collictive body of nobles or titled persons in a stste; the aristocratic and patrician class; the peerage; as, the English nobility.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : nobility
Spanish: nobleza,
German: die Vornehmheit,
Japanese: 高潔さ
More Translations »

nobility 
1398, "quality of being excellent or rare," from O.Fr. nobilite (Fr. nobilité), from L. nobilitatem (nom. nobilitas) "nobleness," from nobilis "well-known, prominent" (see noble). Meaning "quality of being of noble rank or birth" is attested from c.1440; sense of "noble class collectively" is from 1530.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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