gentle mans buttons

Bot.: The flowers of Scabiosa succisa. *gen'-tle-man-hood, s. [Eng.gentleman; -hood.] genus gen'-trỹ, *gen-ter-ie, *gen-ter-y, *gen-ter-ye, 8. [A corrupt. of gentrice (q. v.).] 1. High birth; noble descent or extraction; rank. "Also to have pride of gentrie is right gret folie; for oft time the gentrie of the bodie benimeth the gentrie of the soule." - Chaucer: Per sones Tale. *2. An act becoming a person of good birth or not tame : a horse that is broken-in will be tame , but not always gentle . Animals are in general said to be gentle who show a disposition to a ociate with man, and conform to his will; they are said to be tame , if either by compulsion or habit they are brought to mix with human society. In the moral application gentle is always employed in the good, and tame in the bad, sense; a gentle spirit needs no control. A gentle expre ion is devoid of all acrimony, and serves to turn away wrath; a tame expre ion is devoid of all force or energy, and ill calculated to inspire the mind with any feeling whatever." (Crabb: Eng. Synon.) (2) For the difference between gentle and soft , see SOFT.