What does "nobility" mean?

Nobility: 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. I fell on the same argument of preferring virtue to nobility of blood and titles, in the story of Sigismunda. Dryden.

Additional senses

  1. 2.Those who are noble; the collictive body of nobles or titled persons in a stste; the aristocratic and patrician class; the peerage; as, the English nobility.

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