Meanings
- archaicnot comparableOf any social standing.
I'm forbid to let anybody in, gentle nor simple, if you please.
1884, Plutus Adonis, a mythical hero - Volume 21 more example
Sir, cried the man, equally provoked, this is talking quite out of character ; for as to broken bones, there's ne'er a person in all England, gentle nor simple, can say he's a right to break mine, for I'm not a person of that sort, but a man of as good property as another man; and there's ne'er a customer I have in the world, that's more his own man than myself.
1820, Fanny Burney, Cecilia: or, Memoirs of an heiress - Volume 2, page 100
- archaicpluralplural onlyNo one, regardless of social standing.
The implements of his daily work, which was that of a jobbing gardener, stood in a corner, and seeing probably that she looked rural, he said, 'If you want me to undertake country work I can't come, for I never leave Casterbridge for gentle nor simple -- not I."
1888, Thomas Hardy, The Withered Arm
Cite this entry
gentle nor simple. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gentle%20nor%20simple
“gentle nor simple.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gentle%20nor%20simple. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “gentle nor simple,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gentle%20nor%20simple.
Source: gentle nor simple on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.