(The), subs. (once literary, now colloquial or vulgar).—The gentry; the UPPER TEN (q.v.): cf. ‘the dignity’ applied (PATTEN, 1548) to nobles in the army. Whence QUALITY-AIR = a distinguished carriage.
1599. SHAKESPEARE, Henry V., iv., 8, 94. The rest are princes, barons, lords, knights, squires, and gentlemen of blood and QUALITY.
1700. CENTLIVRE, The Perjured Husband, iii. 2. ’Tis an insufferable Fault, that QUALITY can have no Pleasure above the Vulgar, except it be in not paying their Debts.
1749. SMOLLETT, Gil Blas [ROUTLEDGE], 106. They have themselves QUALITY AIRS.
1857. A. TROLLOPE, Barchester Towers, xxxv. THE QUALITY, as the upper classes in rural districts are designated by the lower with so much true discrimination, were to eat a breakfast, and the NON-QUALITY were to eat a dinner.
