Old

• POS: Adjective, Noun

CIDE DICTIONARY

Old, n. 

 Open country.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

Old, a. [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.].

•  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.  [1913 Webster]

  "Let not old age disgrace my high desire."  [1913 Webster]

  "The melancholy news that we grow old."  [1913 Webster]
•  Not new or fresh; not recently made or produced; having existed for a long time; as, old wine; an old friendship.  Camden.  [1913 Webster]
•  Formerly existing; ancient; not modern; preceding; original; as, an old law; an old custom; an old promise.  [1913 Webster]
•  Continued in life; advanced in the course of existence; having (a certain) length of existence; -- designating the age of a person or thing; as, an infant a few hours old; a cathedral centuries old.  [1913 Webster]

  " In this use old regularly follows the noun that designates the age; as, she was eight years old."  [1913 Webster]

  "And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou?"  [1913 Webster]
•  Long practiced; hence, skilled; experienced; cunning; as, an old offender; old in vice.  [1913 Webster]

  "Vane, young in years, but in sage counsel old."  [1913 Webster]
•  Long cultivated; as, an old farm; old land, as opposed to new land, that is, to land lately cleared.  [1913 Webster]
•  Worn out; weakened or exhausted by use; past usefulness; as, old shoes; old clothes.  [1913 Webster]
•  More than enough; abundant.  [1913 Webster]

  "If a man were porter of hell gate, he should have old turning the key."  [1913 Webster]
•  Aged; antiquated; hence, wanting in the mental vigor or other qualities belonging to youth; -- used disparagingly as a term of reproach.  [1913 Webster]
•  Old-fashioned; wonted; customary; as of old; as, the good old times; hence, colloquially, gay; jolly.  [1913 Webster]
•  Used colloquially as a term of cordiality and familiarity.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

Old age, advanced years; the latter period of life. -- Old bachelor. See Bachelor, 1. -- Old Catholics. See under Catholic. -- Old English. See under English. n., 2. -- Old Nick, Old Scratch, the devil. -- Old lady (Zoöl.), a large European noctuid moth (Mormo maura). -- Old maid. (a) A woman, somewhat advanced in years, who has never been married; a spinster. (b) (Bot.) A West Indian name for the pink-flowered periwinkle (Vinca rosea). (c) A simple game of cards, played by matching them. The person with whom the odd card is left is the old maid. -- Old man's beard. (Bot.) (a) The traveler's joy (Clematis Vitalba). So named from the abundant long feathery awns of its fruit. (b) The Tillandsia usneoides. See Tillandsia. -- Old man's head (Bot.), a columnar cactus (Pilocereus senilis), native of Mexico, covered towards the top with long white hairs. -- Old red sandstone (Geol.), a series of red sandstone rocks situated below the rocks of the Carboniferous age and comprising various strata of siliceous sandstones and conglomerates. See Sandstone, and the Chart of Geology. -- Old school, a school or party belonging to a former time, or preserving the character, manner, or opinions of a former time; as, a gentleman of the old school; -- used also adjectively; as, Old-School Presbyterians. -- Old sledge, an old and well-known game of cards, called also all fours, and high, low, Jack, and the game. -- Old squaw (Zoöl.), a duck (Clangula hyemalis) inhabiting the northern parts of both hemispheres. The adult male is varied with black and white and is remarkable for the length of its tail. Called also longtailed duck, south southerly, callow, hareld, and old wife. -- Old style. (Chron.) See the Note under Style. -- Old Testament. See Old Testament under Testament, and see tanak. -- Old wife. [In the senses b and cwritten also oldwife.] (a) A prating old woman; a gossip.
Refuse profane and old wives' fables. 1 Tim. iv. 7.
(b) (Zoöl.) The local name of various fishes, as the European black sea bream (Cantharus lineatus), the American alewife, etc. (c) (Zoöl.) A duck; the old squaw. -- Old World, the Eastern Hemisphere.

Syn. -- Aged; ancient; pristine; primitive; antique; antiquated; old-fashioned; obsolete. See Ancient.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Old, adj. (older, oldest) (cf. ELDER, ELDEST).
1 a advanced in age; far on in the natural period of existence. b not young or near its beginning.
2 made long ago.
3 long in use.
4 worn or dilapidated or shabby from the passage of time.
5 having the characteristics (experience, feebleness, etc.) of age (the child has an old face).
6 practised, inveterate (an old offender; old in crime).
7 belonging only or chiefly to the past; lingering on; former (old times; haunted by old memories).
8 dating from far back; long established or known; ancient, primeval (old as the hills; old friends; an old family).
9 (appended to a period of time) of age (is four years old; a four-year-old boy; a four-year-old).
10 (of language) as used in former or earliest times.
11 colloq. as a term of affection or casual reference (good old Charlie; old shipmate).
12 the former or first of two or more similar things (our old house; wants his old job back).

Idiom

old age the later part of normal life. old-age pension = retirement pension. old-age pensioner a person receiving this. Old Bailey the Central Criminal Court in London. Old Bill Brit. sl. the police. old bird a wary person. old boy
1 a former male pupil of a school.
2 colloq. a an elderly man. b an affectionate form of address to a boy or man. old boy network Brit. colloq. preferment in employment of those from a similar social background, esp. fellow ex-pupils of public schools. the old country the native country of colonists etc. Old English the English language up to c.1150. old-fashioned in or according to a fashion or tastes no longer current; antiquated. Old French the French language of the period before c.1400. old fustic see FUSTIC.
old girl
1 a former female pupil of a school.
2 colloq. a an elderly woman. b an affectionate term of address to a girl or woman. Old Glory US the US national flag. old gold a dull brownish-gold colour. old guard the original or past or conservative members of a group. old hand a person with much experience. old hat colloq. something tediously familiar or out of date. Old High German High German (see GERMAN) up to c.1200. old lady colloq. one's mother or wife. old lag see LAG(3).
old maid
1 derog. an elderly unmarried woman.
2 a prim and fussy person.
3 a card-game in which players try not to be left with an unpaired queen. old-maidish like an old maid.
old man colloq.
1 one's husband or father.
2 one's employer or other person in authority over one.
3 an affectionate form of address to a boy or man. old man's beard a wild clematis, Clematis vitalba, with grey fluffy hairs round the seeds: also called traveller's joy (see TRAVELLER).
old master
1 a great artist of former times, esp. of the 13th-17th c. in Europe.
2 a painting by such a painter. old moon the moon in its last quarter, before the new moon. Old Nick colloq. the Devil. Old Norse see NORSE. an old one a familiar joke. Old Pals Act Brit. the principle that friends should always help one another. Old Pretender James Stuart (1688-1766), son of James II and claimant to the British throne. old retainer see RETAINER 3b.
old school
1 traditional attitudes.
2 people having such attitudes.
old school tie Brit.
1 a necktie with a characteristic pattern worn by the pupils of a particular (usu. public) school.
2 the principle of excessive loyalty to traditional values. old soldier an experienced person, esp. in an arduous activity. old stager an experienced person, an old hand. old style of a date reckoned by the Julian calendar. Old Testament the part of the Christian Bible containing the scriptures of the Hebrews. old-time belonging to former times. old-timer US a person with long experience or standing. old wives' tale a foolish or unscientific tradition or belief.
old woman colloq.
1 one's wife or mother.
2 a fussy or timid man. old-womanish fussy and timid. Old World Europe, Asia, and Africa. old-world belonging to or associated with old times. old year the year just ended or about to end.

Derivative

oldish adj. oldness n.

Etymology

OE ald f. WG

DEVIL DICTIONARY

Old

adj. In that stage of usefulness which is not inconsistent with general inefficiency, as an _old man_. Discredited by lapse of time and offensive to the popular taste, as an _old_ book.

"Old books? The devil take them!" Goby said.
"Fresh every day must be my books and bread."
Nature herself approves the Goby rule
And gives us every moment a fresh fool.
Harley Shum

THESAURUS

Old

abandoned, abjured, adult, advanced, advanced in life, advanced in years, age-old, aged, ageless, along in years, ancient, antediluvian, antiquated, antique, archaic, auld, big, blase, bygone, constant, continuing, cosmopolitan, cosmopolite, dated, dateless, demode, deserted, discontinued, disused, done with, early, elderly, enduring, erstwhile, established, experienced, firm, fore, former, getting on, gray, gray with age, gray-haired, gray-headed, grown, grown old, grown-up, hoar, hoary, immemorial, inveterate, knowing, late, lifelong, long-lived, marriable, marriageable, mature, matured, maturescent, not born yesterday, not worth saving, nubile, obsolescent, obsolete, of age, of marriageable age, of old, of yore, old as Methuselah, old as history, old as time, old-fashioned, old-time, old-timey, olden, oldfangled, on the shelf, once, onetime, out, out of use, out-of-date, outdated, outmoded, outworn, overage, passe, past, past use, patriarchal, pensioned off, perennial, perpetual, practical, practiced, prehistoric, previous, primeval, primitive, prior, quondam, recent, relinquished, renounced, resigned, retired, ripe, ripened, sagacious, seasoned, senectuous, skilled, solid, sometime, sophisticated, staying, steady, superannuate, superannuated, superseded, then, timeless, timeworn, traditional, tried, tried and true, venerable, versed, vet, veteran, whilom, white, white with age, white-bearded, white-crowned, white-haired, world-wise, worldly, worldly-wise, worn-out, wrinkled, wrinkly, years old

ROGET THESAURUS

Old

Oldness

N oldness, age, antiquity, cobwebs of antiquity, maturity, decline, decay, senility, seniority, eldership, primogeniture, archaism, thing of the past, relic of the past, megatherium, Sanskrit, tradition, prescription, custom, immemorial usage, common law, old, ancient, antique, of long standing, time-honored, venerable, elder, eldest, firstborn, prime, primitive, primeval, primigenous, paleolontological, paleontologic, paleoanthropological, paleoanthropic, paleolithic, primordial, primordinate, aboriginal, diluvian, antediluvian, protohistoric, prehistoric, antebellum, colonial, precolumbian, patriarchal, preadamite, paleocrystic, fossil, paleozoolical, paleozoic, preglacial, antemundane, archaic, classic, medieval, Pre-Raphaelite, ancestral, black-letter, immemorial, traditional, prescriptive, customary, whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contr, inveterate, rooted, antiquated, of other times, rococo, of the old school, after-age, obsolete, out of date, out of fashion, out of it, stale, old-fashioned, behind the age, old-world, exploded, gone out, gone by, passe, run out, senile, time worn, crumbling, secondhand, old as the hills, old as Methuselah, old as Adam, old as history, Archeozoic, Proterozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic, Precambrian, Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Tertiary, Paleogene, Neocene, Quaternary, Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene, Recent, since the world was made, since the year one, since the days of Methuselah, vetera extollimus recentium incuriosi.

Age

N age, oldness, old age, advanced age, golden years, senility, senescence, years, anility, gray hairs, climacteric, grand climacteric, declining years, decrepitude, hoary age, caducity, superannuation, second childhood, second childishness, dotage, vale of years, decline of life, sear and yellow leaf, threescore years and ten, green old age, ripe age, longevity, time of life, seniority, eldership, elders, firstling, doyen, father, primogeniture, geriatrics, nostology, aged, old, elderly, geriatric, senile, matronly, anile, in years, ripe, mellow, run to seed, declining, waning, past one's prime, gray, gray-headed, hoar, hoary, venerable, time-worn, antiquated, passe, effete, decrepit, superannuated, advanced in life, advanced in years, stricken in years, wrinkled, marked withthe crow's foot, having one foot in the grave, doting, like the last of pea time, older, elder, eldest, senior, firstborn, turned of, years old, of a certain age, no chicken, old as Methuselah, ancestral, patriarchal, gerontic, give me a staff of honor for my age, bis pueri senes, peu de gens savent elre vieux, plenus annis abiit plenus honoribus, old age is creeping on apace, slow-consuming age, the hoary head is a crown of glory, the silver livery of advised age, to grow old gracefully, to vanish in the chinks that Time has made.