Definition of "peasantry" []

• The social class constituted by peasants. (noun)
• The condition, rank, or conduct of a peasant. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Of course, I described it as the petition of the nobility, clergy, gentry, yeomanry, and peasantry of the county of ----; and, could you believe it, they struck out _peasantry_ as"
• "The regent's arrival soon spread throughout the province, and the hall of the castle was speedily crowded with chieftains, come to pay their respects to their benefactor; while an army of grateful peasantry from the hills filled the suburbs of the town, begging for one glance only of their beloved lord."
• "The lot of women among the tribes, and among the peasantry, is not, from all I hear, an unhappy one."