Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Nobility

Nobility , noun

[Latin nobilitas: compare Old French nobilité. See Noble.]

1.
The quality or state of being noble; superiority of mind or of character; commanding excellence; eminence.
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 collective body of nobles or titled persons in a state; the aristocratic and patrician class; the peerage; as, the English nobility.