(a) High rank or birth, nobility; also personified; ~ of kinrede, high birth; also, as coll. ~ of the reaume, noblemen of the kingdom; (b) majesty, greatness, dignity; royal or kingly nature, mind, or conduct; of ~, because of majesty or noble nature [quots.: c1390 & (?a1430)]; kepen ~, to maintain the condition that befits a kingdom; (c) in honorific modes of address or description: highness, excellency, majesty; -- also pl.; your (excellent, heigh, etc.) ~; his renomed (excellent) ~.

(a) Elevation of character, nature, or behavior (supposed to accompany highness of station), nobility; soth ~, true nobility of nature and conduct; wommanli ~, female nobleness of character; ~ of god condiciounes, nobility of habits, manners, or attitudes; ~ of herte (corage), nobility of nature; (b) honor, renown, fame; worthiness; praiseworthiness; pl. dignities; ~ of renoun, great fame; (c) noble conduct in battle, valor; (d) magnificence, splendor; glory; magnificent objects; for ~, to give a magnificent appearance befitting majesty; out of a sense of the splendid.

(a) Excellence of status or kind in the hierarchy of created beings; ~ of kinde, excellence of essential character; (b) excellence, perfection; praiseworthiness; (c) sign of nobility; kindeli ~, an inborn sign of nobility.