Though she hated Amphialus, yet the nobility of her
courage prevailed over it. --Sir P.
Sidney.
They thought it great their sovereign to control,
And named their pride nobility of soul. --Dryden.
2. 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.
3. 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.