- no´ble|ness
- no|ble «NOH buhl», adjective, -bler, -blest, noun.–adj.1. high and great by birth, rank, or title: »
a noble family, noble blood.
SYNONYM(S): aristocratic, high-born, patrician.2. high and great in character; showing greatness of mind; good: »a noble knight, a noble deed.
SYNONYM(S): honorable, worthy.3. excellent; fine; splendid; magnificent: »a noble poem, a noble animal; a cruciform hall of noble dimensions (Nicholas P. S. Wiseman). Niagara Falls is a noble sight.
SYNONYM(S): imposing, stately. See syn. under grand. (Cf. ↑grand)5. (in falconry) of the long-winged hawks, such as the falcons, that swoop down on the quarry: »The hawks have been classified as "noble' or "ignoble' according to the length and sharpness of their wings (G. D. Campbell).
–n.1. a person high and great by birth, rank, or title: »[The Hittites] evolved a pioneering constitutional monarchy; their kings had to answer to a council of nobles (Newsweek).
2. an English gold coin of the late Middle Ages, worth 6 shillings and 8 pence.3. Slang. the leader of a group of strikebreakers.╂[< Old French noble, learned borrowing from Latin nōbilis, gnōbilis noble, renowned, well known < gnōscere to know]–no´ble|ness, noun.
Useful english dictionary. 2012.