nobility

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A class of persons distinguished by high birth or rank and in Great Britain including dukes and duchesses, marquises and marchionesses, earls and countesses, viscounts and viscountesses, and barons and baronesses: "The old English nobility of office made way for the Norman nobility of faith and landed wealth” ( Winston S. Churchill).
2. n. Noble rank or status: Congress may not grant titles of nobility.
3. n. The state or quality of being exalted in character.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The character of being noble; nobleness; dignity of mind; that elevation of soul which comprehends bravery, generosity, magnanimity, intrepidity, and contempt of everything that dishonors character; loftiness of tone; greatness; grandeur.
2. n. Social or political preëminence, usually accompanied by special hereditary privileges, founded on hereditary succession or descent; eminence or dignity derived by inheritance from illustrious ancestors, or specially conferred by sovereign authority. The Constitution of the United States provides (art. 1, sec. ix.): “No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States.”
3. n. A body of persons enjoying the privileges of nobility. Specifically— In Great Britain and Ireland, the body of persons holding titles in virtue of which they are members of the peerage. See peerage; see also quotations from Stubbs and Freeman under def. 2.

Wiktionary

1. n. A noble or privileged social class, historically accompanied by a hereditary title; aristocracy.
2. n. uncountable The quality of being noble.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The quality or state of being noble; superiority of mind or of character; commanding excellence; eminence.
2. n. The state of being of high rank or noble birth; patrician dignity; antiquity of family; distinction by rank, station, or title, whether inherited or conferred.
3. n. Those who are noble; the collective body of nobles or titled persons in a state; the aristocratic and patrician class; the peerage.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a privileged class holding hereditary titles
2. n. the state of being of noble birth
3. n. the quality of elevation of mind and exaltation of character or ideals or conduct