Word.ws English Dictionary

Gentleman Jim

Gentleman Jim noun: a man, especially one named James, whose behavior shows him to have a polite, courteous, and respectable nature.

Noun

Gentleman Jim (usually uncountable, plural Gentleman Jims or Gentlemen Jims)

  1. (informal, usually) A man, especially one named James, whose behavior shows him to have a polite, courteous, and respectable nature.
    • When Sullivan met Corbett at New Orleans, Gentleman Jim landed the champion a terrific jolt with his right, smiled sweetly and said, "To think, John, of your coming all the way from Boston to get that."1916, Elbert Hubbard, “Philip D. Armour”, in Little Journeys Vol. 11: Great Businessmen
    • Something puzzling: there were two Gentleman Jims in 71 Squadron.1982, Vernon Haugland, The Eagles' War: the Saga of the Eagle Squadron Pilots, 1940-1945, →ISBN, page 93

Examples of Gentleman Jim in a sentence

  • McCrery pulled his advertising and became known as "Gentleman Jim," a label that fit a personality his consultants had tried in vain to revamp.2005 February 22, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “In Eye of Social Security Storm, Quiet Power Broker Is Courted”, in New York Times, retrieved 16...
  • Lewthwaite . . . was also regarded as ultra-reliable in defence, as well as a consummate sportsman, often referred to as "Gentleman Jim".2007 January 14, Dave Hadfield, “Obituaries: Jim Lewthwaite, Rugby league record-breaker”, in Independent, UK, retrieved 16 Jan 2016:

Forms of Gentleman Jim

pluralGentleman Jims
pluralGentlemen Jims

Origin of Gentleman Jim

Possibly from the nickname of champion American boxer James J. Corbett (1866–1933) or American country music singer Jim Reeves (1923-1964).

Questions about Gentleman Jim

What does Gentleman Jim mean?
Gentleman Jim means a man, especially one named James, whose behavior shows him to have a polite, courteous, and respectable nature.
How do you use Gentleman Jim in a sentence?
McCrery pulled his advertising and became known as "Gentleman Jim," a label that fit a personality his consultants had tried in vain to revamp.
What part of speech is Gentleman Jim?
Gentleman Jim is a noun.
What is the plural of Gentleman Jim?
The plural of Gentleman Jim is Gentleman Jims.

Words near Gentleman Jim in the dictionary

  1. gentleman farm
  2. gentleman farmer
  3. gentleman farmers
  4. gentleman farms
  5. gentleman in waiting
  6. Gentleman Jim
  7. Gentleman Jims
  8. gentleman of leisure
  9. gentleman of the back door
  10. gentleman ranker
  11. gentleman rankers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Gentleman Jim (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “Gentleman Jim.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gentleman_jim. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.