1844. Disraeli, Coningsby, bk. IV., ch. ii. ‘Ah, not in business! Hem! professional?’ ‘No,’ said Coningsby, ‘I am nothing.’—‘Ah! an independent gent; hem! and a very pleasant thing too.’ 1846. Sunday Paper, 24 May. Mr. Rawlinson (Magistrate at Marylebone Police Court). What do you mean by gent? There is no such word in our language. I hold a man who is called a gent to be the greatest blackguard there is. 1848. Punch, vol. XIV., p. 226. His aversion for a gent is softened by pity. 1869. Blue Budget. The gent indicates a being who apes the gentility without the faintest shadow of a claim to it. 2. (Old Cant).—Money. [From Fr., argent.] For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt. 1864. Revue des Deux Mondes, 15 Sept., p. 470. Les voleurs anglais disent gent pour ‘argent.’ 3. (colloquial).—A sweetheart, a mistress: e.g., My gent = my particular friend. Adj. (old literary).—Elegant; comely; genteel. 1383. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales. ‘Miller’s Tale.’ [Skeat, 1878, i., 194]. As any wesil her body gent and small. 1553–99. Spenser. He loved as was his lot, a lady gent. Idem. A knight had wrought against a lady gent. 1704. Mad. Knight’s Jour., p. 44. Law you, sais she, it’s right gent, do you take it—’tis dreadfull pretty. Gentile, subs. (colloquial). Any sort of stranger, native or foreign; among the Mormons, any person not professing the Gospel according to Joe Smith. Hence, In the Land of the Gentiles = (1) in foreign parts; and (2) in strange neighbourhoods or alien society. Gentle, subs. (anglers’).—A maggot; vulgarly, Gentile. 1811. Songs of the Chase. ‘The Jolly Anglers.’ We have gentles in our horns. Gentle Craft, subs. (old).—1. The trade of shoemaking. [From the romance of Prince Crispin, who is said to have made shoes.] 1662. Rump Songs. ‘A Hymn to the Gentle Craft,’ etc., ii. 152. Crispin and he were nere akin: The gentle craft hath a noble kin. 2. (anglers’).—Angling. 1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 65. Sez I, gentle craft, said I. Gentleman, subs. (thieves’).—A crowbar. For synonyms, see jemmy. To put a churl (or beggar) upon a gentleman, verb. phr. (old).—To drink malt liquor immediately after wine.—Grose. Gentleman of the (Three, or Four, or Five) Outs (or Ins), subs. phr. (old).—A varying and ancient wheeze, of which the following are representative:— Out of money, and out of clothes; Out at the heels, and out at the toes; Out of credit, and in debt. A man in debt, in danger, and in poverty; or in gaol, indicted, and in danger of being hanged. 1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. 1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, ch. iv. Paul became a gentleman of three outs—out of pocket, out of elbows, and out of credit.