noblesse
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also Noblesse
Contents |
English [edit]
Etymology [edit]
From Anglo-Norman noblesse, noblesce et al., Old French noblace, nobleche et al., from noble (“noble”).
Pronunciation [edit]
Noun [edit]
noblesse (uncountable)
- The quality of being noble; nobleness.
- c. 1395, Geoffrey Chaucer, ‘The Clerk's Tale’, Canterbury Tales, Ellesmere ms:
- I yow took/ out of youre pouere array / And putte yow / in estaat of heigh noblesse.
- 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book XIX:
- ‘I woll never take more payne uppon me – and that ys grete pite, for he was a good knyght and of grete nobeles.’
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Ben Jonson to this entry?)
- c. 1395, Geoffrey Chaucer, ‘The Clerk's Tale’, Canterbury Tales, Ellesmere ms:
- The nobility; peerage.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.8:
- Faire braunch of noblesse, flowre of cheualrie, / That with your worth the world amazed make, / How shall I quite the paines, ye suffer for my sake?
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Dryden to this entry?)
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.8:
French [edit]
Etymology [edit]
Old French, see noble + -esse
Pronunciation [edit]
- IPA: /nɔblɛs/
Noun [edit]
noblesse f (usually uncountable)
