status,
position the relative position or standing of things or especially persons in a society; "he had the status of a minor"; "the novel attained the status of a classic"; "atheists do not enjoy a favorable position in American life"
In Scotland, the name used for the titled and untitled nobility. The term, derived from the French, remains in use in grants of arms from the Court of the Lord Lyon, the Scottish king of arms. While the word "Nobility" is now generally used in the English language only for the Peers (Dukes, Marquises, Earls, Viscounts, Barons) and maybe also the Baronets and Knights, all with a "Sir" title, it actually includes also the "untitled" to whom rightly belong the ranks and titles of "Esquire" (not given just as a courtesy to any person from letter writers) and "Gentleman" in the nobiliary sense.