gentleman (1 in the 17th c. ‘something more than an ordinary Souldier, hath a little more pay, and doth not stand Centinel’)
1.
officer of a
company of soldiers 1H4 IV. ii.
26, H5 IV. i. 39.
2.
man of gentle birth
attached to the household of a person of high rank
Tw.N. V. i. 184
“The count's ,”
H8 I. ii. 5
“That of
Buckingham's”
; transf.
1H4 I. ii. 29
“Diana's foresters,
g-men of the shade”
; so gentlewoman
Ado II. iii. 234 [223], H8 III. ii. 95,
Oth. III. i. 26
“the that attends the
general's wife.”