genius 
right or wrong is no great matter. And so the reputation 
of wit and great learning does the office of a riband or a 
coach anil six. Swift, To Bolingbroke. 
That ills style was no easy acquisition (though, of course, 
the aptitude was innate), he [Dryden] himself tells us. 
Lowell, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 30. 
For, above all things, he had what we Yankees call /ac- 
uitythe knack of doing everything. 
G. '. Curtis, Int. to Cecil Dreeme, p. 12. 
As the sum and crown of what is to be done for technical 
education, I look to the provision of a machinery for win- 
nowing out the capacities and giving them scope. 
Huxley, Tech. Education. 
Sir Isaac Newton and Milton were equally men of Ge- 
nius. Sir Robert Walpole and Lord Godolphin were min- 
isters of great abilities, though they did not possess either 
the brilliant talents of Bolingbroke or the commanding 
genius of Chatham. Sir J. Mackintosh. 
There is also another species of genius we call ingenu- 
ity, or the inventive faculty, which frequently accompa- 
nies or takes the place of the higher flights of genius, that 
meantime lies idle, or fallow, to recruit its powers. 
Jon See, Essay on Samuel Foote. 
Patience and tenacity of purpose are worth more than 
twice their weight of cleverness. 
Huxley, Critiques and Addresses, p. 68. 
genleset, genteset, pho form genlese is no 
doubt wrong; the origin of gentese is uncer- 
tain.] An old architectural term of doubtful 
form and meaning : said by the Oxford Glossary 
to have been applied by William of Worcester 
apparently to the cusps or featherings in the 
arch of a doorway. 
gennet 1 , n. See jennet 1 . 
gennet 2 t, . See genet 2 . 
Genoa velvet. See Genoese velvet, under Geno- 
ese. 
genoblast (jeu'o-blast), n. [NL., < Gr. yhos, 
sex, + /JAaorof, germ.] The bisexual nucleus 
of an impregnated ovum, regarded as com- 
posed of a female part, feminonucleus, and of 
a male part, masculonucleus; a maritonueleus. 
H. D. Minot, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., XIX. 
170. 
genoblastic (jen-o-blas'tik), a. [< genoblast + 
-ic.] Germinating as a result of union of sex- 
ual elements; gamogenetie; pertaining to a 
genoblast. See the extract. 
This author [E. Van Beneden] . . . suggests that the pe- 
ripheral pronucleus is probably partially formed of sper- 
matic substance, that the central pronucleus is female, and 
that the segmentation nucleus is a compound body result- 
ing from the union of these two, and is probably, there- 
fore, bisexual. This statement includes all the basal facts 
of the genoblastic theory. 
A. Hyatt, Amer. Jour. Sci., 3d ser., XXXI. 336. 
Genoese (jen-o-es' or -ez'), a. and n. [< Genoa 
+ -ese; cf. F. 'Genois, It. Genovese, < It. Genova, 
< L. Genna, Genoa. The plural was formerly 
also Genoeses. Cf. Genoway.'] I. a. Relating 
or pertaining to Genoa, a city of northwestern 
Italy, or to the republic of Genoa constituted 
by its citizens, existing from the tenth century 
till 1797, and very powerful in the middle ages. 
Genoese embroidery, needlework done on fine linen 
or cotton, with outlines of thin cord and buttonhole- 
stitch, parts of the material being cut away and the open- 
ings filled with wheels and other simple patterns. Geno- 
ese velvet, a rich fabric of which the pattern is in velvet 
pile and the background flat and smooth, of silk or silk 
and gold. The manufacture of this velvet is not peculiar 
to Genoa. Also called Genoa velvet. 
II. n. sing, and pi. An inhabitant or a na- 
tive, or the people, of Genoa. 
Also Genovese. 
genouillere (zhe-no-lyar'), n. [F., < genou, < 
L. genu = E. fcnee.] 1. Milit. : (a) The knee- 
piece, of hammered iron, introduced toward 
the close of the thirteenth century, and worn 
at first over the chausses of mail, being held 
in place by a 
strap passing 
round the leg, 
and consisting 
at first of a 
dish-shaped or 
slightly point- 
ed roundel. (6) 
An articulated 
piece forming 
a part of the 
jambe or of 
the cuissart in 
the fourteenth 
century, and 
later furnished 
with large wings which projected backward on 
each side of the knee-joint. 2. In fort. : (a) 
The part of the interior slope of the parapet 
below the sill of an embrasure, serving to cover 
the lower part of the gun-carriage. (6) The 
height of the parapet above the banquette in a 
barbette battery. 
Genouillere, middle of I3th century. 
(From Viollet-le-Duc's " Diet, du Mobilier 
fran^ais." ) 
2488 
-genous. [(1) < LL. -genus, -a, -urn, or as noun or 
adj. of one term., <L. -gena, m., -born, asinmdi- 
genus, indigena, native, indigenous, amnigena, 
river-born, montigena, mountain-born, etc. : see 
-gen. (2) < -gen + -ous, as in acro-gen-oug, nitro- 
gen-ous.'] 1. The terminal element in some 
words of Latin origin, meaning ' -born,' as in in- 
digenous, born within a country, amnigenous, 
river-born, montigenous, mountain-born, etc. 
2. The termination of adjectives from nouns 
in -gen, as in acrogenous, nitrogenous, etc. 
Genovese (jen-o-ves' or -vez'),a. andn. [ME. 
Genevayse; < It. Genovese, < Genova, Genoa: see 
Genoese.'] Same as Genoese. [Bare.] 
Being but a Genovese, 
I am handled worse than had I been a Moor. 
Tennyson, Columbus. 
Genowayt, [Early mod. E. also Genowey, 
Genowaie, etc . (and as an existing surname Jane- 
way, Jannaway, Jannay, Janney), < ME. Jane- 
wey, Januaye, Januey, usually in pi. Janeweys, 
Januayes, etc., orig. also sing., Genevayse, etc., 
a Genoese, a merchant engaged in the Genoese 
trade, < It. Genovese, a Genoese, < Genova, Genoa: 
see Genoese, Genovese.'] A Genoese. 
John Dory (a Genowey, as I conjecture). 
Ji. Carew, Survey of Cornwall (1602), p. 135. 
Ambrose Orlmani, a Genowaie, lying in garrison in the 
isle and city of Chio. Grimeston, Goulart, G g 1. (Nares.) 
genre (zhon'r), n. [F., kind, genus, mode, style, 
etc.; particularly in the arts, with a distinct 
epithet; <1>. genus (gener-), kind: see genus and 
gender, .] 1. Genus; kind; sort; style. [Bare.] 
The prodigious wealth of our language in beautiful works 
of this genre is almost unknown. 
S. Lanier, Scl. of Eng. Verse, p. 245. 
2. In painting, specifically, a representation of 
some phase of common life, as a domestic inte- 
rior, a rural or village scene, etc. The term is 
sometimes used in the same sense with reference to sculp- 
ture and the drama. In French it is also applied with a 
descriptive epithet to other kinds of painting, as genre 
historique, the historical style ; genre du paysage, the land- 
scape style. In English writing it is most commonly used 
in combination as a descriptive term, either with or with- 
out a hyphen : as, genre pictures ; a penre-painter. 
There are comic and genre pictures of parties. 
J. F. Clarke, Ten Great Religions, vi. 1. 
Only within these few centuries has painting been di- 
vided into historical, landscape, marine, architectural, 
genre, animal, still-life, etc. 
H . Spencer, Universal Progress, p. 22. 
His subjects, too, were no longer the homely things of 
the ^rare-painter. Encyc. Brit., XXIV. 569. 
gens (jenz), n. ; pi. gentes (jen'tez). [L., a clan 
or family (see def.), a race, nation, people, < 
<!/ gen in gignere, OL. genere, beget, produce, 
genus, a race, kind, allied to E. kin and kind: 
see genus, kin, kind, .] 1. In ancient Rome, a 
clan or house embracing several families claim- 
ing descent from a common ancestor, united 
by a common name and by certain religious 
rites and legal privileges and obligations, but 
not necessarily by consanguinity: as, the Fa- 
bian gens, all bearing the name Fabius; the 
Julian gens, all named Julius; the Cornelian 
gens, etc. Hence 2. In historical and ethno- 
logical use, a tribe or clan; any community of 
persons jn a primitive state of society consti- 
tuting a distinct or independent branch of a 
general aggregate or race. 
The union of the gentes or nations is temporary and oc- 
casional only ; when the emergency is over each tribal ruler 
is independent as before. Stubbs, Const. Hist., 22. 
There was nothing between the worship of the House- 
hold and the worship of the Gens. 
W. E. Heam, Aryan Household, p. 141. 
gent 1 ! (jent), a. [< ME. gent, < OF. gent, F. gent 
= Pr. gent = OSp. gento, Olt. gente, pretty, fine, 
abbr., with recession of accent, from L. gentilis, 
fentle, etc.: see gentle, genteel, gentry, jaunty.} 
. Noble; gentle. 
Al of a Knyght was fair and gent. 
Chaucer, Sir Thopas, 1. 4. 
He lov'd, as was his lot, a Lady gent. 
Spenser, F. Q., I. ix. 27. 
2. Neat; slender; elegant. 
Fair was the yonge wyf, and ther withal 
As eny wesil Mr body gent and smal. 
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1. 48. 
Her middle was both small and gent. 
Greene, Description of the Shepherd and his Wife. 
3. Polished; refined. 
The goos with hire facounde gent. 
Chaucer, Parliament of Fowls, 1. 558. 
gent 2 (jent), n. [Abbr. of gentleman, first used 
in the 16th century, prob. at first with some 
ref. to gent 1 , a., but in more general use taken 
up in speech from the written abbr. "gent." in 
law records, lists of names, etc., and in plays, 
genthite 
as "1st Gent.," "2d Gent.," etc.] An abbre- 
viation of gentleman. [Vulgar ; in literary use, 
humorous or colloquial.] 
And behold, at this moment the reverend gent enters 
from the vestry. Thackeray, >"ewcomes, xliv. 
The thing named "pants" in certain documents, 
A word not made for gentlemen, but gents. 
O. W. Holmes, Urania. 
genteel (jen-teT), a. [In this form first found 
in the 17th century, being an E. adaptation of 
gentile pronounced as in the contemporary F. 
gentil, m., gentile, f. (the i pron. as E. ee), gentle, 
affable, courteous (see gentile, a., 4); another 
form in imitation of the F. pron. was jantee, 
janty, now jaunty. From the OF. form of the 
same word is reg. derived the E. gentle, while 
gentile, except in the obs. sense 'genteel,' is 
directly from the L. See gentle, gentile, genty, 
jaunty.] 1. Polite; well-bred; decorous in 
manners or behavior ; refined : as, genteel com- 
pany. 
The colony [New Haven] was under the conduct of as 
holy, and as prudent, and as genteel persons as most that 
ever visited these nooks of America. 
C. Mather, Mag. Chris., i. 6. 
A genteel man, brother of the Caimacam of Glrge, came 
to see me, whom I had seen at the Aga's. 
Pococke, Description of the East, I. 123. 
Isn't he a handsome man? tell me that. A genteel 
man? a pretty figure of a man ? 
Sheridan, The Rivals, iv. 2. 
2. Adapted to, suitable for, or characteristic 
of polite society; free from vulgarity or mean- 
ness in appearance, quality, amount, etc. ; ele- 
gant; becoming; adequate: as, genteel man- 
ners; a genteel address; genteel comedy ; a, gen- 
teel income or allowance. 
[Mercier] soon returned and took a house in Covent 
garden, painting portraits and pictures of familiar life in 
a genteel style of his own, and with a little of Watteau. 
Walpole, Anecdotes of Painting, IV. iii. 
Whoever supposes that Lady Austen's fortune is preca- 
rious is mistaken. I can assure you . . . that it is both 
genteel and perfectly safe. Cowper. 
The crowd was insupportable, and . . . there was not a 
genteel face to be seen. 
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, p. 20. 
3. Fashionable; stylish; a la mode. 
'Tis the most genteel and received wear now, sir. 
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, i. 1. 
Do now send a genteel conveyance for them ; for, I as- 
sure you, they were most of them used to ride in their 
own carriages. Sheridan, School for Scandal, iv. 1. 
He endeavors hard to make rascality genteel, by con- 
verting rascals into coxcombs. 
Whipple, Ess. and Rev., II. 112. 
Genteel business (theat.). See business. The genteel, 
that which is genteel ; the manners of well-bred or fash- 
ionable society ; " the fashionable." 
Mr. Adams, delightful as he is, has no pretension to 
"the genteel." 
R. L. Stevenson, Some Gentlemen in Fiction. 
=Syn. Genteel, Polite, well-mannered, polished. Genteel 
refers to the outward chiefly ; polite to the outward as 
an expression of inward refinement and kindness. Gen- 
teel has latterly tended to express a somewhat fastidious 
pride of refinement, family position, and the like. Gen- 
teel is often largely negative, meaning free from what is 
low, vulgar, or connected with the uncultivated classes ; 
polite is positive and active, meaning that one acts in a 
certain way. Polite has, however, a passive meaning, 
that of ' polished' : as, polite society, polite literature. See 
polite. 
eenteelize (jen-tel'iz), v. t. ; pret. and pp. gen- 
' + -fee.] 
teelieed, ppr. genteelizing. [< genteel 
To render genteel. [Rare.] 
A man cannot dress but his ideas get cloth'd at the same 
time; and if he dresses like a gentleman, every one of 
them stands presented to his imagination genteelized along 
with him. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, ix. 13. 
genteelly (jen-tel'li), adv. In a genteel man- 
ner; in the manner of well-bred people. 
Most exactly, negligently, genteelly dress'd ! 
Steele, Grief A-la-Mode, ii. 1. 
I have long neglected him as being a profligate or (as 
Mr. Browne more genteelly calls him) a privileged writer, 
who takes the liberty to say any thing, and whose re- 
proach is no scandal. Waterland, Works, X. 414. 
genteelness (jen-tel'nes), n. The state or qual- 
ity of being genteel ; gentility. [Rare.] 
Next to him [Corregio] Parmeggiano has dignified the 
genteelness of modern effeminacy, by uniting it with the 
simplicity of the antients and the grandeur and severity 
of Michael Angelo. Sir J. Reynolds, Discourses, iv. 
Gentele's green. Seo green 1 . 
genteriet, genteriset, Middle English forms 
of gentry. Chaucer. 
gentes, n. Plural of gens. 
genteset, . See genlese. 
genthite (gen'thlt), n. [After a mineralogist, 
Dr. F. A. Genth of Pennsylvania (born 1820).] 
A hydrous silicate of nickel and magnesium, 
occurring in amorphous stalactitic incrusta- 
