gentian spirit (jenshianspirit)

gentian wort (jen's hi an-wėrt), n. A plant belonging to the order Gentian ace a. gentilt, a. and n. A Middle English form of gentle. gentile (jen'til or -til), a. and n. [In defs. 1, 2, 3 directly from L.; in def. 4 from F. gentil, m., gentile, f., gentile, also, formerly, genteel, gentle (see genteel, gentle ), = Sp. gentil = Pg. gent ió = It. gentile, gentile, 2489 a tribe, family, clan: see gens.] I. a. 1. Of or belonging to a gens or clan; of the same clan or family. Another result [of Solon's policy) was to increase the number of people who stood outside those gentile and phratric divisions which were concomitants of the patriarchal type and of personal rule. H. Spencer , Prin. of Sociol., § 488. The, Agnatic Gentile groups, consisting of all the descendants, through males, of a common male ancestor, began to exist in every a ociation of men and women which held together for more than a single generation. Maine , Early Law and Custom, p. 287, note A. 2 (in this sense only jen'til). In Scrip ., belonging to a non-Jewish nation; pertaining to a heathen people: in the United States, applied by the Mormons to persons not of their church. [Commonly with a capital letter.] Now again is there a positive nucleus of Gentile influence. renewed in the city [Salt Lake]. S. Bowles, Our New West, p. 209. 3. In gram., expre ing nationality, local extraction, or place of abode; describing or designating a person as belonging to a certain race, country, district, town, or locality by birth or otherwise: as, a gentile noun (as Greek, Arab, English man, etc.); a gentile adjective (as Flor entine, Spanish, etc.).-4. Worthy of a gentleman; genteel; honorable. See genteel, gentle. We make art servile, and the trade gentile (Yet both corrupted with ingenious guile), To compa earth, and with her empty store To fill our arms, and grasp one handful more. Quaran Emblems, ii. 2. IMG:content-2211.jpg:[blocks in formation] =Syn. 2. See gentile, n. II. n. 1. A member of a gens or clan. The Agnati were a group of actual or adoptive descendants, through males, from a known and remembered ancestor; the Gentiles were a similar group of descendants from an ancestor long since forgotten. Maine , Early Law and Custom, p. 283, note A. 2 (jen'til). In Scrip., one belonging to a non Jewish nation; any person not a Jew; a heathen; sometimes, in later writings, one who is neither a Jew nor a Christian. [Commonly with a capital in this use and the next.] In the beginning of Christianity, the Fathers writ Contra gentes, and Contra Gentiles , they were all one: But after all were Christians, the better sort of People still retain'd the name of Gentiles , throughout the four Provinces of Selden, Table-Talk, p. 52. the Roman Empire. 3 (jen'til). Among the Mormons, one who is not of their church.-4. In gram., a noun or an adjective derived from the name of a country or locality, and designating its natives or people: as, the words Italian, American, Athe nian, are gentiles. =Syn. 2. Gentile, Barbarian, Pagan, Heathen. A barbarian was to the Greeks a foreigner, especially one of alien speech; in the New Testament the word seems to mean a stranger or foreigner, but in Rom. i. 14 one not a Greek, and therefore not cultivated. Primarily, a Gentile, or the word of which it was a translation, signified to the Jews one not a Jew, but later one who was neither Jew nor Christian, or, from the Roman standpoint, one not a Roman. Pagan and heathen are primarily the same in meaning; but pagan is sometimes distinctively applied to those nations that, although worshiping false gods, are more cultivated, as the Greeks and Romans, and heathen to uncivilized idolaters, as the tribes of Africa. A Mohammedan is not counted a pagan, much le a heathen. See infidel. Glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile. Rom. ii. 10. The long struggle between the habits, manners, and moral sentiments of the barbarians and the totally oppo site characteristics of Roman life. Stillé , Stud. Med. Hist., p. 41. I'd rather be A Pagan , suckled in a creed outworn; So might I, standing on this pleasant lea, Have glimpses that would make me le forlorn. Words worth, Misc. Sonnets, i. 33. The mi ionaries did not disdain to work upon the senses of the heathen by anything that could impart a higher dig. nity to the Christian cultus as compared with the pagan . Grimm, Teut. Mythol. (trans.), I. 5. gentiles set, n. [Also gentle e ; le e , gentile e , gentry, gentility, nobili ty, pl. gentile es , pretty conceits, devices, = F. gentile e (= Pr. Sp. Pg. gentileza = It. gent i lezza , gentile , gentle, noble, etc.): see gentle . the same word.] Gentle birth; character or Gentrice and gentry, v., are other forms of manners of a person of gentle birth; courtesy; complaisance; delicacy. For som folk wol be wounen for riche e, And som for strokes, and som for gen till e e . Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1. 196. Her yeares advancing her to the use of reason, there was a pretty emulation among them who should render gentility her mistre e of most gentile es, and teach her the most witty and subtile discourses, to serve her upon all occasions. Comical Hist. of Franc i on (1655).