What is "gentry"

Gentry \Gen"try\, n. [OE. genterie, gentrie, noble birth, nobility, cf. gentrise, and OF. gentelise, genterise, E. gentilesse, also OE. genteleri high-mindedness. See Gent, a., Gentle, a.]

1. Birth; condition; rank by birth. [Obs.] ``Pride of gentrie.''
   --Chaucer.

   She conquers him by high almighty Jove, By knighthood, gentry, and sweet friendship's oath.
   --Shak.

2. People of education and good breeding; in England, in a restricted sense, those between the nobility and the yeomanry.
   --Macaulay.

3. Courtesy; civility; complaisance. [Obs.]

   To show us so much gentry and good will.
   --Shak.

c.1300, "nobility of rank or birth," from Old French genterise, variant of gentilise "noble birth, gentleness," from gentil (see gentle). Meaning "noble persons" is from 1520s. Earlier in both senses was gentrice (c.1200 as "nobility of character," late 14c. as "noble persons"). In Anglo-Irish, gentry was a name for "the fairies" (1880), and gentle could mean "enchanted" (1823).

n. 1 Birth; condition; rank by birth. 2 Courtesy; civility; complaisance. 3 People of education and good breeding. 4 (context British English) In a restricted sense, those people between the nobility and the yeomanry.

n. the most powerful members of a society [syn: aristocracy]

Gentry normally refers to a certain class of people. It may also refer to:

Gentry (from Old French genterie, from gentil, "high-born, noble") are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. Gentry, in its widest connotation, refers to people of good social position connected to landed estates (see manorialism), upper levels of the clergy, and "gentle" families of long descent who never obtained the official right to bear a coat of arms.

In the United Kingdom, the term often refers to the social class of the landed aristocracy or to the minor aristocracy (see landed gentry) whose income derives from their large landholdings. The idea of gentry in the continental sense of " noblesse" is extinct in common parlance in England, despite the efforts of enthusiasts to revive it. Though the untitled nobility in England are normally termed gentry, the older sense of "nobility" is that of a quality identical to gentry.

The fundamental social division in most parts of Europe in the Middle Ages was between the "nobiles", i.e., the tenants in chivalry (whether counts, barons, knights, esquires or franklins), and the "ignobles", i.e., the villeins, citizens and burgesses. The division into nobles and ignobles in smaller regions of Europe in the Middle Ages was less exact due to a more rudimentary feudal order. After the Reformation, intermingling between the noble class and the often hereditary clerical upper class became a distinctive feature in several Nordic countries.

Besides the gentry there have been other analogous traditional elites. The adjective patrician ("of or like a person of high social rank") for example describes most closely members of the governing elites found within metropolitan areas like the mediaeval free cities of Italy ( Venice, Genoa), the free imperial cities of Germany and Switzerland, and the areas of the Hanseatic League, which, by virtue of their urban milieu, differed from the gentry (though many also had rural residences).

Gentry is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

• Alistair Gentry (born 1973), English artist and writer
• Alwyn Howard Gentry (1945-1993), American botanist
• Bobbie Gentry (born 1944), American singer-songwriter
• Brady P. Gentry (1896-1966), U.S. congressman from Texas
• Curt Gentry (born 1931), American writer
• Craig Gentry (computer scientist) (born 1973), American computer scientist
• Craig Gentry (born 1983), American professional baseball player
• Dennis Gentry (born 1959), American professional football player
• Gary Gentry (born 1946), Major League Baseball pitcher
• Howard Gentry, Jr. (born 1952), U.S. politician from Tennessee
• Howard Scott Gentry (1903-1993), American botanist
• Kenneth Gentry (born 1950), American theologian
• Loyd Gentry, Jr. (born 1925), American horse trainer
• Meredith Poindexter Gentry (born 1809), 19th century U.S. congressman from Tennessee
• Minnie Gentry (1915–1993), American actress
• Robert Gentry (actor) (born 1940), American actor
• Robert V. Gentry (born 1933), Young Earth Creationist and nuclear physicist
• Rufe Gentry (1918-1997), Major League Baseball pitcher
• Teddy Gentry (born 1952), member of the country music band Alabama
• Troy Gentry (born 1967), member of the country music duo Montgomery Gentry
• William Gentry (1899-1991), New Zealand military leader