gentle

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. adj. Considerate or kindly in disposition; amiable and tender.
2. adj. Not harsh or severe; mild and soft: a gentle scolding; a gentle tapping at the window.
3. adj. Easily managed or handled; docile: a gentle horse.
4. adj. Not steep or sudden; gradual: a gentle incline.
5. adj. Of good family; wellborn: a child of gentle birth.
6. adj. Suited to one of good breeding; refined and polite: a gentle greeting to a stranger.
7. adj. Archaic Noble; chivalrous: a gentle knight.
8. n. Archaic One of good birth or relatively high station.
9. v. To make less severe or intense: The peaceful sunset gentled her dreadful mood.
10. v. To soothe, as by stroking; pacify.
11. v. To tame or break (a domestic animal, for instance): gentle a horse.
12. v. To raise to the status of a noble.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. Of good birth or family; well-born; specifically, belonging to the gentry as distinguished from the nobility: as, the studies of noble and gentle youth.
2. Pertaining to or characteristic of good birth or station; honorable; respectable; refined.
3. Of well-bred character or quality; gracious; courteous; kindly and considerate; not rough or harsh; mild; soothing: as, a gentle nurse; a gentle nature, manner, voice.
4. Tame; docile; tractable; peaceable; not wild or refractory: as, a gentle horse or hawk.
5. Improved by cultivation; ameliorated; domesticated.
6. Soft; mild in action, performance, or use; not rude or boisterous: as, a gentle breeze; a gentle tap; a gentle tone.
7. Refreshing; reviving.
8. Gradual; easy; not steep; moderate in degree; not sharply defined: as, a gentle slope; the gentle curves of a river or a figure.
9. n. A person of good family; a person of gentle birth; a gentleman.
10. n. In falconry, a falcon-gentle; a trained hawk: whence one of the names of the common goshawk of Europe, Falco gentilis.
11. n. A maggot or larva of the flesh-fly, used in fishing.
12. To make or constitute gentle, or as if gentle; place in the rank of gentlemen; raise from a vulgar or ignoble condition.
13. To make gentle in manner or appearance; render mild and amiable; soften; subdue: as, to gentle a colt.

Wiktionary

1. adj. Tender and amiable; of a considerate or kindly disposition
2. adj. Soft and mild rather than hard or severe
3. adj. Docile and easily managed
4. adj. Gradual rather than steep or sudden
5. adj. Polite and respectful rather than rude
6. v. intransitive to become gentle
7. v. transitive to ennoble
8. v. transitive, animal husbandry to break; to tame; to domesticate
9. v. transitive To soothe; to calm.
10. n. archaic A person of high birth.
11. n. archaic A maggot used as bait by anglers

GNU Webster's 1913

1. adj. Well-born; of a good family or respectable birth, though not noble.
2. adj. Quiet and refined in manners; not rough, harsh, or stern; mild; meek; bland; amiable; tender.
3. adj. A compellative of respect, consideration, or conciliation.
4. adj. Not wild, turbulent, or refractory; quiet and docile; tame; peaceable.
5. adj. Soft; not violent or rough; not strong, loud, or disturbing; easy; soothing; pacific.
6. n. obsolete One well born; a gentleman.
7. n. A trained falcon. See Falcon-gentil.
8. n. (Zoöl.) A dipterous larva used as fish bait.
9. v. obsolete To make genteel; to raise from the vulgar; to ennoble.
10. v. R. or Poet. To make smooth, cozy, or agreeable.
11. v. colloq. To make kind and docile, as a horse.

WordNet 3.0

1. adj. having little impact
2. adj. having or showing a kindly or tender nature
3. adj. quiet and soothing
4. adj. easily handled or managed
5. adj. soft and mild; not harsh or stern or severe
6. v. cause to be more favorably inclined; gain the good will of
7. v. give a title to someone; make someone a member of the nobility
8. adj. belonging to or characteristic of the nobility or aristocracy
9. v. stroke soothingly
10. adj. marked by moderate steepness