noun

1. Obsolete rank resulting from birth; esp., high rank
2. people of high social standing; esp., in Great Britain, the class of landowning people ranking just below the nobility
3. people of a particular class or group the newspaper gentry

Etymology: ME genterie, noble or high birth; prob. taken as sing. of genterise, gentility of birth < OFr, var. of gentilise < gentil: see gentle