ennoble - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English ennoblen, from Old French ennoblir. Equivalent to en- +‎ noble.

• IPA(key): /ɪˈnəʊbəl/
• Rhymes: -əʊbəl

ennoble (third-person singular simple present ennobles, present participle ennobling, simple past and past participle ennobled)

1. To bestow with nobility, honour or grace.
   Synonyms: elevate, invest, knight, lord; see also Thesaurus:aggrandize
   • 2020, Francine Prose, “Has Trump learned anything from Covid-19? Absolutely not”, in The Grauniad‎[1]:
     We’d like to believe that suffering instructs and ennobles.
   • 2024 July 24, Christian Wolmar, “Rail Minister Hendy has a tough job... but the skills to succeed”, in RAIL, number 1014, page 44:
     There was no shortage of dropped jaws when news came through about the appointment of the recently ennobled Lord Peter Hendy as rail minister. This was certainly a left-field move, taking everyone (perhaps even himself) by surprise.
2. To perform on a fabric the industrial processes of dry-cleaning, printing and embossing, and sizing and finishing.
3. (botany, transitive, obsolete) To inarch.

• disennoble
• ennobled
• ennoblement
• ennobler
• ennobling

To bestow with nobility, honour or grace

• Bulgarian: облагородявам (bg) (oblagorodjavam)
• Finnish: ylevöittää
• French: anoblir (fr)
• German: adeln (de)
• Greek: εξευγενίζω (el) (exevgenízo)
• Hungarian: nemesít (hu), megnemesít (hu)
• Italian: nobilitare (it)
• Māori: whakarangatira
• Norwegian: adle (no)
• Old English: æþelian
• Polish: uszlachcać impf, uszlachcić pf, uszlachetniać (pl) impf, uszlachetnić (pl) pf, uwznioślać impf, uwznioślić pf, nobilitować impf or pf
• Russian: облагораживать (ru) (oblagoraživatʹ)
• Ukrainian: облагоро́джувати impf (oblahoródžuvaty), облагоро́дити pf (oblahoródyty)

to further process textile fabrics