gentleとは

意味・読み方・使い方

発音

• (Received 発音) IPA^(key): /ˈdʒɛntl̩/
• (General American) enPR: jĕn′tl, IPA^(key): /ˈdʒɛntl̩/, [ˈd͡ʒɛ̃ɾ̃l̩]
• ハイフネーション: gen‧tle

形容詞

gentle (comparative gentler または more gentle, superlative gentlest または most gentle)

1. Tender and amiable; of a considerate or kindly disposition.

   Stuart is a gentle man; he would never hurt you.

2. Soft and mild rather than hard or severe.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 3, in The China Governess‎^[1]:

     Here the stripped panelling was warmly gold and the pictures, mostly of the English school, were mellow and gentle in the afternoon light.

   I felt something touch my shoulder; it was gentle and a little slimy.

3. Docile and easily managed.

   We had a gentle swim in the lake.

   a gentle horse

4. Gradual rather than steep or sudden.

   The walks in this area have a gentle incline.

5. Polite and respectful rather than rude.

   He gave me a gentle reminder that we had to hurry up.

6. (archaic) Well-born; of a good family or respectable birth, though not noble.
   • 1893-1897, Charles Kendal Adams (editor), Johnsons Universal Encyclopedia

     British society is divided into nobility, gentry, and yeomanry, and families are either noble, gentle, or simple.

   • [1644], [John Milton], Of Education. To Master Samuel Hartlib, [London: Printed for Thomas Underhill and/or for Thomas Johnson], OCLC 946735316:

     the studies wherein our noble and gentle youth ought to bestow their time

同意語

• (polite): friendly, kind, polite, respectful

反意語

• (polite): rude

派生語

動詞

gentle (三人称単数 現在形 gentles, 現在分詞 gentling, 過去形および過去分詞形 gentled)

1. (intransitive) to become gentle
   • 2013, Kathryn L.M. Reynolds, Garland Roses, Kathryn L.M. Reynolds (→ISBN), page 226

     “She's experienced a horrific and nasty scare and is in a state of shock, but otherwise she's relatively okay.” Conrad replied, his tone at first grim (as he recalled what he'd seen in the family room) and then it gentled to a more doctorial tone as he directed his next comments to his patient.

2. (transitive, obsolete) to ennoble
   • c. 1599, Henry V, by Shakespeare, Act IV Scene III

     […] For he to-day that sheds his blood with me / Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, / This day shall gentle his condition […]

3. (transitive, animal husbandry) to break; to tame; to domesticate
   • 2008, Frank Leslie, The Killing Breed, Penguin (→ISBN)

     Yakima could have tried to catch him, gentle him as Wolf had been gentled, but having two stallions in his cavvy would lead to a different kind of trouble.

4. (transitive) To soothe; to calm; to make gentle.
   • 1996, William C. Loring, An American Romantic-realist Abroad: Templeton Strong and His Music, Scarecrow Press (→ISBN), page 201

     A hornist, his playing gentled by perspective, is out of sight within the woods, but his notes are heard through or over the murmuring mix of bird song and breeze in leaves.

名詞

gentle (複数形 gentles)

1. (archaic) A person of high birth.
   • c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene ii]:

     Gentles, methinks you frown.

2. (fishing) A maggot used as bait by anglers.
   • 1983, The Fisherman Who Laughed, page 67:

     Years ago, on Victoria's Port Phillip Bay, the recognised bait for garfish were `gentles', a genteel word for maggots, which were especially grown for gar fishermen.