old
/əʊld/ adjective, noun, proper noun
Forms older elder oldest eldest oldermost olds ol ol' ole owld aad oul oul' ould olde aud
- adjective Of an object, concept, relationship, etc., having existed for a relatively long period of time. “an old abandoned building”
- adjective Of a living being, having lived for most of the expected years. “a wrinkled old man”
- adjective Of a perishable item, having existed for most of, or more than, its shelf life. “an old loaf of bread”
- adjective Of a species or language, belonging to a lineage that is distantly related to others. “the ginkgo is one of the oldest living trees”
- adjective Having been used and thus no longer new or unused. “I find that an old toothbrush is good to clean the keyboard with.”
- adjective Having existed or lived for the specified time. “How old are they? She’s five years old and he's seven. We also have a young teen and a two-year-old child.”
- adjective Former, previous. “My new car is not as good as my old one. a school reunion for Old Etonians”
- adjective That is no longer in existence. “The footpath follows the route of an old railway line.”
- noun (with the, invariable plural only) People who are old; old beings; the older generation, taken as a group. “A civilised society should always look after the old in the community.”
- noun (slang) A person older than oneself, especially an adult in relation to a teenager. “I'm not letting an old wreck my good time today.”
- noun (slang, most often plural) One's parents. “I had to sneak out to meet my girlfriend and tell the olds I was going to the library.”
- noun (Australia, uncountable) A typically dark-coloured lager brewed by the traditional top-fermentation method.
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun A village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire district, Northamptonshire, England, previously in Daventry district (OS grid ref SP7873).
Synonyms
aged of age erstwhile antique ol' ancient long in the tooth paleo- ageing aging elderly on in years ex- former one-time past antiquated obsolete outdated age-old older onetime quondam sometime honest-to-god honest-to-goodness sure-enough previous
Antonyms
brand new fresh new neo- ceno- young current latest new-fangled nubile
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English old, oold, from Old English ald, eald (“old, aged, ancient, antique, primeval”), from Proto-West Germanic *ald, from Proto-Germanic *aldaz (“grown-up”), originally a participle form, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eltós (“grown, tall, big”).
Cognate with Scots aald, auld (“old”), Yola yola, yolaw, yold, yole (“old”), North Frisian ool, ual, uuil, uul, üülj (“old”), Saterland Frisian oold (“old”), West Frisian âld (“old”), Alemannic German altu, oalt, oalts, olt, àltà (“old”), Bavarian oid (“old”), Central Franconian alt, aod, auw, oot (“old”), Cimbrian and German alt (“old”), Dutch oud (“old”), German Low German old, oolt (“old”), Luxembourgish al (“old”), Mòcheno òlt (“old”), Vilamovian aołd (“old”), Yiddish אַלט (alt, “old”), Danish ældre (“elderly”), Faroese eldri (“elder, older”), Icelandic aldinn (“old”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk eldre (“elderly”), Swedish äldre (“elderly”), Crimean Gothic alt (“old”), Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌸𐌴𐌹𐍃 (alþeis, “old”), Latin altus (“high, tall, grown big, lofty”). Related to eld.
* In Northamptonshire, recorded as Walda in 1086 (DB), becoming Wolde in the 14th century, and later Old. From Old English or Old Saxon wald.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Open country. [Obs.] See World. Shak.
- adjective Not young; advanced far in years or life; having lived till toward the end of the ordinary term of living; as, an old man; an old age; an old horse; an old tree.
- adjective Not new or fresh; not recently made or produced; having existed for a long time; as, old wine; an old friendship. "An old acquaintance." Camden.
Etymology [OE. old, ald, AS. ald, eald; akin to D. oud, OS. ald, OFries. ald, old, G. alt, Goth. alpeis, and also to Goth. alan to grow up, Icel. ala to bear, produce, bring up, L. alere to nourish. Cf. Adult, Alderman, Aliment, Auld, Elder.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “old”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details