different between noble vs gallant

English

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French noble, from Latin n?bilis (“knowable, known, well-known, famous, celebrated, high-born, of noble birth, excellent”), from n?scere, gn?scere (“to know”).

Displaced native Middle English athel (“noble”) (from Old English æþele) and Middle English hathel, hathelle (“noble, nobleman”) (from the merger of Old English æþele (“nobleman”) and Old English hæleþ (“hero”)).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?n??b?l/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?no?b?l/
• Rhymes: -??b?l
• Hyphenation: no?ble

Noun

noble (plural nobles)

1. An aristocrat; one of aristocratic blood. [from 14th c.]

   Antonyms: commoner, plebeian

2. (historical) A medieval gold coin of England in the 14th and 15th centuries, usually valued at 6s 8d. [from 14th c.]
   • 1499, John Skelton, The Bowge of Courte:

     I lyked no thynge his playe, / For yf I had not quyckely fledde the touche, / He had plucte oute the nobles of my pouche.

   • 1644, John Milton, Aeropagitica:

     And who shall then stick closest to ye, and excite others? not he who takes up armes for cote and conduct, and his four nobles of Danegelt.

   • 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin 2012, page 93:

     There, before the high altar, as the choir's voices soared upwards to the blue, star-flecked ceiling, Henry knelt and made his offering of a ‘noble in gold’, 6s 8d.

Hyponyms

• See also Thesaurus:nobleman

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

noble (comparative nobler or more noble, superlative noblest or most noble)

1. Having honorable qualities; having moral eminence and freedom from anything petty, mean or dubious in conduct and character.

   Synonyms: great, honorable

   Antonyms: despicable, ignoble, mean, vile

2. Grand; stately; magnificent; splendid.

3. Of exalted rank; of or relating to the nobility; distinguished from the masses by birth, station, or title; highborn.

   Synonym: superior

   Antonyms: inferior, plebeian

4. (geometry, of a polyhedron) Both isohedral and isogonal.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• honorable

Further reading

• noble in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• noble in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• noble at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• Bolen, Nobel

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin n?bilis.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /?n?.bl?/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /?n?.ble/

Adjective

noble (masculine and feminine plural nobles)

1. noble

Derived terms

• gas noble
• noblement
• noblesa

Noun

noble m or f (plural nobles)

1. noble

Further reading

• “noble” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “noble” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “noble” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “noble” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

From Middle French, from Old French noble, borrowed from Latin n?bilis according to the TLFi dictionary.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /n?bl/

Adjective

noble (plural nobles)

1. noble, aristocratic
2. (of material) non-synthetic, natural; fine
3. noble, worthy (thoughts, cause etc.)

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Danish: nobel
• ? German: nobel

Noun

noble m or f (plural nobles)

1. noble (person who is noble)

References

• “noble” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Further reading

• “noble” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?no?bl?/

Adjective

noble

1. inflection of nobel:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Middle English

Etymology

From Old French noble, from Latin n?bilis.

Adjective

noble

1. noble

Descendants

• English: noble

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French, from Latin n?bilis.

Adjective

noble m or f (plural nobles)

1. noble

Old French

Etymology

From Latin n?bilis.

Adjective

noble m (oblique and nominative feminine singular noble)

1. noble; upper-class; well-bred

   Synonyms: avenant, cortois

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin n?bilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?noble/, [?no.??le]

Adjective

noble (plural nobles)

1. noble

Derived terms

Related terms

• nobleza

Swedish

Adjective

noble

1. absolute definite natural masculine form of nobel.

Anagrams

• Nobel, nobel

English

Alternative forms

• gallaunt (obsolete)

Etymology 1

From Middle English galant, galaunt, from Old French galant (“courteous; dashing; brave”), present participle of galer (“to rejoice; make merry”), from gale (“pomp; show; festivity; mirth”); either from Frankish *wala- (“good, well”), from Proto-Germanic *wal-, from Proto-Indo-European *welh?- (“to choose, wish”); or alternatively from Frankish *gail (“merry; mirthful; proud; luxuriant”), from Proto-Germanic *gailaz (“merry; excited; luxurious”), related to Dutch geil (“horny; lascivious; salacious; lecherous”), German geil (“randy; horny; lecherous; wicked”), Old English g?l (“wanton; wicked; bad”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??æl?nt/
• Rhymes: -æl?nt

Adjective

gallant (comparative more gallant, superlative most gallant)

1. brave, valiant.
2. honorable.

   • Captain Edward Carlisle […] felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, […]; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.

3. grand, noble.
4. (obsolete) Showy; splendid; magnificent; gay; well-dressed.

   • This town [is built in a very gallant place.

Related terms

• gallantly
• gallantry

Translations

Etymology 2

From French

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???lænt/, /??æl?nt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /???l?nt/, /??æl?nt/
• Rhymes: -ænt

Adjective

gallant (comparative more gallant, superlative most gallant)

1. Polite and attentive to ladies; courteous to women; chivalrous.

Translations

Noun

gallant (plural gallants)

1. (dated) A fashionable young man who is polite and attentive to women.
   • 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 1 scene 2

     PROSPERO: […] this gallant which thou see'st / Was in the wrack; and but he's something stain'd / with grief,—that beauty's canker,—thou mightst call him / A goodly person […]

2. One who woos, a lover, a suitor, a seducer.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

     […] they were discovered in a very improper manner by the husband of the gypsy, who, from jealousy it seems, had kept a watchful eye over his wife, and had dogged her to the place, where he found her in the arms of her gallant.

   • 1819, John Keats, Otho the Great, Act III, Scene II, verses 140–143

     The ignominy of that whisper’d tale / About a midnight gallant, seen to climb / A window to her chamber neighbour’d near, / I will from her turn off, […]

3. (nautical) topgallant

Translations

Verb

gallant (third-person singular simple present gallants, present participle gallanting, simple past and past participle gallanted)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To attend or wait on (a lady).

2. (obsolete, transitive) To handle with grace or in a modish manner.

References

• gallant in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Welsh

Alternative forms

• gallan (colloquial)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??a?ant/

Verb

gallant

1. (literary) third-person plural present/future of gallu

Mutation