gentle

comparative gentler · comparative more gentle · superlative gentlest · superlative most gentle

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

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

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   A good heart, these days, is hard to find / So please be gentle with this heart of mine

   1985, Maria McKee, “A Good Heart”, performed by Feargal Sharkey

2. Soft and mild rather than hard or severe.

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

   3 more examples

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

   1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 3, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC

   Raj took a deep breath, and reached out to give Armitage the gentlest little stroke. “It’s nippy out. Let’s take him inside.”

   2012, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Ratburger, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN

   As for daytime sun protection, Dr. Bowe said mineral sunscreens made with zinc oxide may be gentler on sensitized skin than chemical formulas.

   2023 December 6, Jessica DeFino, “Too Many Products Can Stress Out Your Skin. Here’s How to Scale Back.”, in The New York Times

   Synonyms: silken

3. Docile and easily managed.

   a gentle horse

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   We had a gentle swim in the lake.

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. archaicWell-born; of a good family or respectable birth, though not noble.

   1893-1897, Charles Kendall Adams (editor), Johnson's Universal Encyclopedia British society is divided into nobility, gentry, and yeomanry, and families are either noble, gentle, or simple.

   2 more examples

   "You are of gentle blood," she said […]

   1822, [Walter Scott], Peveril of the Peak. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC

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

   [1644], [John Milton], Of Education. To Master Samuel Hartlib, [London]: […] [Thomas Underhill and/or Thomas Johnson], →OCLC

present singular third person gentles · participle present gentling · participle past gentled · past gentled

1. intransitiveTo become gentle.

   A September morning brought a stiff northeast wind that blew at 30 miles an hour and kept small craft out of the sound. But by afternoon the wind gentled and the sound smoothed.

   1987 October, Charles E. Cobb, Jr., “North Carolina's Outer Banks”, in National Geographic, volume 172, number 4, page 510

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   “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.

   2013, Kathryn L.M. Reynolds, Garland Roses, Kathryn L.M. Reynolds, →ISBN, page 226

2. obsoletetransitiveTo ennoble.

   […] 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 […]

   c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]

3. transitiveanimal husbandryTo break; to tame; to domesticate.

   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.

   2008, Frank Leslie, The Killing Breed, Penguin, →ISBN

4. transitiveTo soothe; to calm; to make gentle.

   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.

   1996, William C. Loring, An American Romantic-realist Abroad: Templeton Strong and His Music, Scarecrow Press, →ISBN, page 201

plural gentles

1. archaicA person of high birth.

   Gentles, methinks you frown.

   c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]

   2 more examples

   While actual medieval societies were full of lots of peasants and a few rich and noble gentles, SCA personas tend to be nobles rather than commoners.

   2012, Lizzie Stark, Leaving Mundania: Inside the Transformative World of Live Action Role-Playing Games, Chicago Review Press, →ISBN, page 43

   ‘Gentles and fair lady, if you have suffered ill usage or hardship, I pray you lay such complaints before me[.]’

   1936, Norman Lindsay, The Flyaway Highway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 54

2. fishingA maggot used as bait by anglers.

   Pooh! the whole thing is as alive and wrigging as an angler's box of gentles

   1846, Douglas William Jerrold, “The History of St. Giles and St. James”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)

   1 more example

   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.

   1983, The Fisherman Who Laughed, page 67

3. A trained falcon, or falcon-gentil.

plural Gentles

1. A surname.