Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Nobility

No·bil′i·ty (nō·bĭl′ĭ·ty̆), n. [L. nobilitas: cf. OF. nobilité. 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 collective body of nobles or titled persons in a state; the aristocratic and patrician class; the peerage; as, the English nobility.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.