Elder

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: eld=er

CIDE DICTIONARY

Elder, a. [AS. yldra, compar. of eald old. See Old.].

•  Older; more aged, or existing longer.  [1913 Webster]

  "Let the elder men among us emulate their own earlier deeds."  [1913 Webster]
•  Born before another; prior in years; senior; earlier; older; as, his elder brother died in infancy; -- opposed to younger, and now commonly applied to a son, daughter, child, brother, etc.  [1913 Webster]

  "The elder shall serve the younger."  [1913 Webster]

  "But ask of elder days, earth's vernal hour."  [1913 Webster]

Elder hand (Card Playing), the hand playing, or having the right to play, first. Hoyle.

Elder, n. [AS. ealdor an elder, prince, fr. eald old. See Old, and cf. Elder, a., Alderman.].

•  One who is older; a superior in age; a senior.  1 Tim. v. 1.  [1913 Webster]
•  An aged person; one who lived at an earlier period; a predecessor.  [1913 Webster]

  "Carry your head as your elders have done."  [1913 Webster]
•  A person who, on account of his age, occupies the office of ruler or judge; hence, a person occupying any office appropriate to such as have the experience and dignity which age confers; as, the elders of Israel; the elders of the synagogue; the elders in the apostolic church.  [1913 Webster]

  " In the modern Presbyterian churches, elders are lay officers who, with the minister, compose the church session, with authority to inspect and regulate matters of religion and discipline. In some churches, pastors or clergymen are called elders, or presbyters."  [1913 Webster]
•  A clergyman authorized to administer all the sacraments; as, a traveling elder.  [1913 Webster]

Presiding elder (Meth. Ch.), an elder commissioned by a bishop to have the oversight of the churches and preachers in a certain district. -- Ruling elder, a lay presbyter or member of a Presbyterian church session. Schaff.

Elder, n. [OE. ellern, eller, AS. ellen, cf. LG. elloorn; perh. akin to OHG. holantar, holuntar, G. holunder; or perh. to E. alder, n.].

 A genus of shrubs (Sambucus) having broad umbels of white flowers, and small black or red berries.  [1913 Webster]
" The common North American species is Sambucus Canadensis; the common European species (S. nigra) forms a small tree. The red-berried elder is S. pubens. The berries are diaphoretic and aperient. The European elder (Sambucus nigra) is also called the elderberry, bourtree, Old World elder, black elder, and common elder."  [1913 Webster]

Box elder. See under 1st Box. -- Dwarf elder. See Danewort. -- Elder tree. (Bot.) Same as Elder. Shak. -- Marsh elder, the cranberry tree Viburnum Opulus).

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Elder, adj. & n.
--attrib.adj. (of two indicated persons, esp. when related) senior; of a greater age (my elder brother).
--n. (often prec. by the)
1 the older or more senior of two indicated (esp. related) persons (which is the elder?; is my elder by ten years).
2 (in pl.) a persons of greater age or seniority (respect your elders). b persons venerable because of age.
3 a person advanced in life.
4 hist. a member of a senate or governing body.
5 an official in the early Christian, Presbyterian, or Mormon Churches.

Idiom

elder brother (pl. elder brethren) Brit. each of thirteen senior members of Trinity House. elder hand Cards the first player. elder statesman an influential experienced person, esp. a politician, of advanced age.

Derivative

eldership n.

Elder, n. any shrub or tree of the genus Sambucus, with white flowers and usu. blue-black or red berries.

Etymology

OE ell{aelig}rn

THESAURUS

Elder

Aaronic priesthood, Bible clerk, Bible reader, Establishment, Father Time, Melchizedek priesthood, Methuselah, Nestor, Old Paar, Seventy, VIP, acolyte, age, alderman, almoner, anagnost, ancestors, antecedent, antecedents, antediluvian, anterior, anticipatory, antique, apostle, archon, ascendants, authority, back number, bailie, baron, beadle, bedral, big gun, big man, big name, bigwig, bishop, boss, brass, brass hat, burghermaster, burgomaster, bwana, cabinet member, cabinet minister, caducity, capitular, capitulary, celebrity, centenarian, chancellor, chef, chief, choir chaplain, church dignitary, churchwarden, ci-devant, city councilman, city father, city manager, clerk, commissar, commissioner, conservative, councillor, councilman, councilwoman, county commissioner, county supervisor, dad, deacon, deaconess, dean, dignitary, dignity, doctor, dodo, dotard, doyen, doyenne, earlier, early, ecclesiarch, elder statesman, elderliness, elderman, elders, eldest, employer, experienced, father, fathers, figure, first, first-born, firstling, fogy, fore, forebears, forefathers, foregoing, former, fossil, fud, fuddy-duddy, gaffer, geezer, golden-ager, goodman, gramps, grandfather, grandfathers, grandparents, grandsire, granny, graybeard, great man, great soul, guru, has-been, headman, high priest, husband, illuminate, important person, induna, intellect, intellectual, interests, lay elder, lay reader, lector, lecturer, legislator, liege, liege lord, lion, longhair, lord, lord mayor, lord paramount, lords of creation, lover of wisdom, magistrate, magnate, mahatma, maire, major, man of intellect, man of mark, man of wisdom, mandarin, master, mastermind, matriarch, mayor, mentor, mid-Victorian, minister, minister of state, mogul, mossback, nabob, name, nonagenarian, notability, notable, octogenarian, old age, old believer, old chap, old codger, old crock, old dodo, old dog, old duffer, old fogy, old geezer, old gent, old gentleman, old liner, old man, old party, old poop, old woman, old-timer, older, oldest, oldster, oracle, overlord, padrone, panjandrum, pantaloon, paramount, parish clerk, paterfamilias, patriarch, patriarchs, patron, person of renown, personage, personality, philosopher, pillar of society, pop, pops, portreeve, power, power elite, preceding, precentor, precurrent, predecessors, preexistent, presbyter, previous, priest, prime, primogenitary, prior, progenitors, rabbi, reactionary, reader, reeve, regular old fogy, relic, respected, rishi, ruling circle, ruling elder, sachem, sacrist, sacristan, sage, sahib, sapient, savant, scholar, secretary, secretary of state, seer, seigneur, seignior, selectman, senectitude, senescence, senior, senior citizen, septuagenarian, sexagenarian, sexton, shames, sidesman, sire, somebody, something, square, starets, succentor, suisse, superior, supervisor, syndic, teacher, teaching elder, the great, the quiet-voiced elders, the top, thinker, thurifer, top brass, top people, traditionalist, tycoon, undersecretary, venerable, venerable sir, verger, vergeress, very important person, veteran, warden, wise man, wise old man, worthy, years

ROGET THESAURUS

Elder

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.

Clergy

N clergy, clericals, ministry, priesthood, presbytery, the cloth, the desk, clergyman, divine, ecclesiastic, churchman, priest, presbyter, hierophant, pastor, shepherd, minister, father, father in Christ, padre, abbe, cure, patriarch, reverend, black coat, confessor, dignitaries of the church, ecclesiarch, hierarch, ebdomarius, eminence, reverence, elder, primate, metropolitan, archbishop, bishop, prelate, diocesan, suffragan, dean, subdean, archdeacon, prebendary, canon, rural dean, rector, parson, vicar, perpetual curate, residentiary, beneficiary, incumbent, chaplain, curate, deacon, deaconess, preacher, reader, lecturer, capitular, missionary, propagandist, Jesuit, revivalist, field preacher, churchwarden, sidesman, clerk, precentor, choir, almoner, suisse, verger, beadle, sexton, sacristan, acolyth, acolothyst, acolyte, altar boy, chorister, Pope, Papa, pontiff, high priest, cardinal, ancient flamen, flamen, confessor, penitentiary, spiritual director, cenobite, conventual, abbot, prior, monk, friar, lay brother, beadsman, mendicant, pilgrim, palmer, canon regular, canon secular, Franciscan, Friars minor, Minorites, Observant, Capuchin, Dominican, Carmelite, Augustinian, Gilbertine, Austin Friars, Black Friars, White Friars, Gray Friars, Crossed Friars, Crutched Friars, Bonhomme, Carthusian, Benedictine, Cistercian, Trappist, Cluniac, Premonstatensian, Maturine, Templar, Hospitaler, Bernardine, Lorettine, pillarist, stylite, abbess, prioress, canoness, religieuse, nun, novice, postulant, prophet, priest, high priest, Levite, Rabbi, Rabbin, Rebbe, scribe, mullah, muezzin, ayatollah, ulema, imaum, imam, sheik, sufi, kahin, kassis, mufti, hadji, dervish, fakir, faquir, brahmin, guru, kaziaskier, poonghie, sanyasi, druid, bonze, santon, abdal, Lama, talapoin, caloyer, the Reverend, the very Reverend, the Right Reverend, ordained, in orders, called to the ministry.