english gentry definition
Gentry (from Old French genterie, from gentil, high-born, noble) are well-born, genteel and well-bred people of high social class, especially in the past. Gentry, in its widest connotation, refers to people of good social position connected to landed estates (see manorialism), upper levels of the clergy, and gentle families of long descent who never obtained the official right to bear a coat of arms.