Definition of "gentilhomme"

Then M. de Montrond rose covered with glory and with honor, for in such adventures lay the fame of the gentilhommes of that time.

1876 January, G. Colmache, “Gentilhomme and Gentleman”, in Lippincott’s Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, volume XVII, Philadelphia, Pa.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott and Co., pages 82–83

The salons became schools for assimilation into aristocratic manners. From women, bourgeois gentilhommes learned how to comport themselves.

1997, Grace Anne Morsberger, The Russian Woman Writer in the Salon: Issues of Gender and Literary Space, Berkeley, Calif.: University of California, Berkeley, page 35

[…] Maud would introduce her to society and help her find a husband from the gentilhommes of the local château aristocracy.

2020, Judithe Little, “New Silhouettes”, in The Chanel Sisters, Toronto, Ont.: Graydon House, Harlequin Books S.A., chapter 23