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The great classes or orders of a community or state (as the clergy, the nobility, and the commonalty of England) or their representatives who administer the government; as, the estates of the realm (England), which are (1) the lords spiritual, (2) the lords temporal, (3) the commons.

; not liable to; as, goods exempt from execution; a person exempt from jury service. True nobility is exempt from fear. Shak. T is laid on all, not any one exempt. Dryden.

enrich; to exalt; to benefit. They stuck not to say that the king cared not to plume his nobility and people to feather himself. Bacon. Dryden.

The lowest title of nobility in Portugal, corresponding to that of Hidalgo in Spain.

ighty father on a hill Stood smiling to behold his lion's whelp Forage in blood of French nobility. Shak. Foraging ant (Zoöl.), one of several species of ants of the genus Eciton, very abundant in tropical America, remarkable for marching in vast armies in search of food. -- Foraging cap, a forage cap. -- Foraging pa…

Magnanimity; generosity; liberality; frankness; nobility. "Franchise in woman." [Obs.] Chaucer. Elective franchise, the privilege or right of voting in an election of public officers.

Nobility of birth or of character; gentility. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Gentleness; courtesy; kindness; nobility. [Obs.] Chaucer.

of a good family or respectable birth, though not noble. British society is divided into nobility, gentry, and yeomanry, and families are either noble, gentle, or simple. Johnson's Cyc. The studies wherein our noble and gentle youth ought to bestow their time. Milton.

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

A German title of nobility, equivalent to earl in English, or count in French. See Earl.

endor; magnificence; stateliness; sublimity; dignity; elevation of thought or expression; nobility of action. Nor doth this grandeur and majestic show Of luxury . . . allure mine eye. Milton.

A member of the highest rank of nobility in Germany and Austria, corresponding to the British duke.

One of the nobility, or certain high officers of state belonging to the noble estate in the national representation of Hungary, and formerly of Poland.

The English equivalent of the German title of nobility, markgraf; a marquis.

One of the hereditary nobility among the Tatars, esp. one of the second class.

Of or pertaining to the nobility. Fitzed. Hall.

Of exalted rank; of or pertaining to the nobility; distinguished from the masses by birth, station, or title; highborn; as, noble blood; a noble personage.

One of the nobility; a noble; a peer; one who enjoys rank above a commoner, either by virtue of birth, by office, or by patent.

f being noble; greatness; dignity; magnanimity; elevation of mind, character, or station; nobility; grandeur; stateliness. His purposes are full honesty, nobleness, and integrity. Jer. Taylor.