Part 465

||Genius loci (&?;) [L.], the genius or presiding divinity of a place; ||hence, the pervading spirit of a place or institution, as of a ||college, etc.

Gen`o*ese" (?), a. Of or pertaining to Genoa, a city of Italy. -- n. sing. & pl. A native or inhabitant of Genoa; collectively, the people of Genoa.

||Ge*nouil`lËre" (?), n. [F.]

1. (Anc. Armor) A metal plate covering the knee.

2. (Fort.) That part of a parapet which lies between the gun platform and the bottom of an embrasure.

-ge*nous. [-gen + -ous.] A suffix signifying producing, yielding; as, alkaligenous; endogenous.

||Genre (zh‰N"r'), n. [F. See Gender.] (Fine Arts) A style of painting, ||sculpture, or other imitative art, which illustrates everyday life ||and manners.

||Gens (jnz), n.; pl. Gentes (jn"tz). [L. See Gentle, a.] (Rom. Hist.) ||1. A clan or family connection, embracing several families of the ||same stock, who had a common name and certain common religious rites; ||a subdivision of the Roman curia or tribe.

2. (Ethnol.) A minor subdivision of a tribe, among American aborigines. It includes those who have a common descent, and bear the same totem.

Gent (?), a. [OF. gent, fr. L. genitus born, or (less prob.) fr. gentilis. See Genteel.]

1. Gentle; noble; of gentle birth. [Obs.]

All of a knight was fair and gent.

Chaucer.

2. Neat; pretty; fine; elegant. [Obs.] Spenser.

Her body gent and small.

Chaucer.

Gen*teel" (?), a. [F. gentil noble, pretty, graceful. See Gentle.] 1. Possessing or exhibiting the qualities popularly regarded as belonging to high birth and breeding; free from vulgarity, or lowness of taste or behavior; adapted to a refined or cultivated taste; polite; well-bred; as, genteel company, manners, address.

2. Graceful in mien or form; elegant in appearance, dress, or manner; as, the lady has a genteel person. Law.

3. Suited to the position of lady or a gentleman; as, to live in a genteel allowance.

Syn. -- Polite; well-bred; refined; polished.

Gen*teel"ish, a. Somewhat genteel.

Gen*teel"ly, adv. In a genteel manner.

Gen*teel"ness, n. The quality of being genteel.

Gen"ter*ie (?), Gen"trie (&?;), n. [OE. See Gentry.] Nobility of birth or of character; gentility. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Gen"tian (jn"shan or - sh*an), n. [OE. genciane, F. gentiane, L. gentiana, fr. Gentius, an Illyrian king, said to have discovered its properties.] (Bot.) Any one of a genus (Gentiana) of herbaceous plants with opposite leaves and a tubular four- or five-lobed corolla, usually blue, but sometimes white, yellow, or red. See Illust. of Capsule.

Many species are found on the highest mountains of Europe, Asia, and America, and some are prized for their beauty, as the Alpine (Gentiana verna, Bavarica, and excisa), and the American fringed gentians (G. crinita and G. detonsa). Several are used as tonics, especially the bitter roots of Gentiana lutea, the officinal gentian of the pharmacopúias.

Horse gentian, fever root. -- Yellow gentian (Bot.), the officinal gentian (Gentiana lutea). See Bitterwort.

Gen`tian*a"ceous (?), a. (Bot.) Of or pertaining to a natural order of plants (GentianaceÊ) of which the gentian is the type.