| 释义 |
gentlewoman|ˈdʒɛnt(ə)lwʊmən|
[f. gentle a. + woman, after OF. gentilfemme, gentifemme.]
1. A woman of good birth or breeding.
c1230Hali Meid. 9 Biset uuele as gentille wimmen mest alle nu oworlde. 13..Coer de L. 1574 As I am gentyl⁓woman, Kyng Rychard wol do yow but good. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xi. 240 Ihesus Crist on a Iewes doghter lighte Gentil womman though she were Was a pure pore mayde. a1450Knt. de la Tour (1868) 20 For a gentille woman shuld haue no wrathe in hem, for thei aught to haue gentille herte, and faire and softe in ansuere. 1544T. Phaer Pestilence (1553) N j b, [A] goodly pomaunder for gentlewemen and ladies. 1580Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 352 Here Gentlewomen you may see, how iustly men seeke to entrap you. Ibid. 370 Ladyes and Gentlewomen. 1625Hart Anat. Ur. i. i. 8 As for you, Ladyes and Gentlewomen..let me intreate you, not to be too officiously busie. a1748Watts Improv. Mind (1801) 325 The good old gentlewoman trained them up precisely in the forms in which she herself was educated. 1801Vince Elem. Astron. xxi. (ed. 2) 191 Some Gentlewomen in the country saw more than 16 stars. 1890Besant Demoniac iv. 45 You are not fit to associate with gentlemen or to marry a gentlewoman!
fig.1649Davenant Love & Hon. v. 34/1 What thinke you of the stars now Caladine? Doe these small twinkling Gentlewomen Looke to their business well?
b. old gentlewoman: in humorous or derisive sense; cf. old lady.
1699Bentley Phal. 517 There is not one Word in all the Epistles relating to the Old Gentlewoman. a1715in Amherst Terræ Fil. xv. (1726) 73 ‘Our holy mother [the church] was not permitted to take counsel for herself’. Poor old gentlewoman! What a sad thing that was!
2. A female attendant (orig. a gentlewoman by birth) upon a lady of rank. Now only Hist.
1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) V. 373 Rosamunda entrede in to a bedde of a gentilwoman [L. domicilla] longynge to her. 1535Coverdale Nahum ii. 7 The quene hir self shal be led awaye captyue, and her gentilwomen shall mourne. c1661in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 6 In this attendance he and Lady Rutland's waiting gentlewoman married. 1673Rules Civility (ed. 2) 31 In visiting a Lady..it is not enough to salute her, but her Gentlewoman also, if she be then present. 1770Foote Lame Lover ii. Wks. 1782 III. 49 For tho' I am..but a commoner, no gentlewoman's gentlewoman, has a prettier set of acquaintance. 1854Mrs. Oliphant Magd. Hepburn II. 9 Himself and Mistress Isobel, her gentlewoman, were to accompany the lady.
†3. Comb.: appositive., as gentlewoman-boy, gentlewoman-heir, gentlewoman-widow.
1340Ayenb. 190 A gentil wymman wodewe zente to þe uore yzede Ion uif hondred pond of gold. 1608R. Armin Nest Ninn. (1842) 36 The gentlewoman-boy tooke him by the heeles, and pulled him out. 1641Brome Joviall Crew iv. ii. Wks. 1873 III. 431 We must finde a young Gentlewoman-Heire among you.
Hence ˈgentlewomanhood, the character or disposition natural to a gentlewoman.
1848Thackeray Van. Fair xlviii, What a high and noble appreciation of Gentlewomanhood. 1887Mrs. C. Reade Maid o' the Mill II. xxxiii. 185 Her chastity, her Christian gentlewomanhood. |