I. ˈōld, before a consonant often ˈōl adjective
( -er/-est )
Etymology: Middle English ald, old, from Old English eald, ald; akin to Old Saxon ald old, Old High German alt old, Old Norse aldr age, ala to bring up, nourish, Gothic alds period of time, age (of a person), altheis old, alan grown up, Latin alere to feed, nourish, alescere to grow, altus high, Greek aldēskein to grow, an altos insatiable, Sanskrit an ala fire (literally, the insatiable one), ṛdhnoti he flourishes, succeeds; basic meaning: to grow, nourish
1.
a. : dating from the remote past : ancient
beautiful old Japanese traditions — Lafcadio Hearn
b. : persisting from an earlier time : chronic
old pains keep … gnawing at your heart — Joseph Conrad
c. : of long standing : having a status strengthened by the passage of time
an old friend
old residents of the vicinity — John De Meyer
comes from an old family
2.
a. : distinguished from an object of the same kind by being of an earlier date
new … standards for old jobs — Bruce Payne
the old name was readopted at the time of incorporation — American Guide Series: Pennsylvania
how slow this old moon wanes — Shakespeare
specifically usually capitalized : belonging to an early period in the development of a language or literature and preceding a middle period
b. : constituting an earlier geographic entity
the old Roman Empire
repeatedly toured the old Northwest — E.S.Bates
c. of a holiday : celebrated on the Old Style date
Old Christmas
Old Midsummer Day
3.
a. : having existed for a specified period of time
a little girl three years old
a gambrel roofed house over 200 years old
the campaign was scarcely two days old — P.W.Thompson
b. : exceeding a specified age
old geese retailed at 47¢ lb.
4.
a. : performed in or descriptive of the distant past
old sacrifices to the Cretan bulls
mentioned in old histories
b. : of, relating to, or characteristic of antiquity or of a past era : antique , bygone
interpreting old writers in their own tongue — Benjamin Farrington
old Hitchcock chairs
rural simplicity and innocence because in old days, as now, this region lay apart from the active life … near the sea — Samuel Van Valkenburg & Ellsworth Huntington
c. : stemming from or reminiscent of a past era
tenacity of old opinion — H.T.Buckle
giving new meanings to old words — M.R.Cohen
chandeliers, which are merely old , as opposed to antique — New Yorker
d. : famed through the ages
the old historical lands of Europe — Mark Pattison
5.
a. : advanced in years : nearing the end of the normal life span
an old man with a long white beard
a tall old virgin pine … spared by fire and woodcutter — American Guide Series: Minnesota
b. : exhibiting the physical or mental characteristics of age
looked old at 20 because of prolonged suffering
wake up … in a world where no one was conventional or stuffy or old — Margery Sharp
6. : having a knowledge or ability gained through long practice : experienced
old in the ways of conspirators — Max Peacock
7.
a. : identified with an earlier period
the old democratic objection to despotism — G.K.Chesterton
ministers … who spoke the old tongue — Oscar Handlin
the grandfather's clock still stands in the same old place
retained all of his old alertness and charm — F.J.Mather
b. : during an earlier period : former
hundreds of his old students were present — L.M.Crosbie
the badge … is treasured among old members of our squadron — L.G.Pine
8.
a. : deteriorated or mellowed by or as if by time or use : aged , worn
old books
old wine
old pasture
marks the northern end of an old sea wall — H.Lovegrove
— often used to express disparagement
give mamma that dirty old stick
generalized affection
good old Santa Claus
our little old wobbledy calf — Eugene Field
a great old establishment — Sinclair Lewis
familiarity
fifty years ago, there was only one kind of pneumonia — just plain old pneumonia — R.J.Huebner
back to the same old grind
personalization
the old stomach did a buck and wing — P.G.Wodehouse
or as an intensive
having a high old time
especially of any
come any old time, I'll be home all day
not any old ink will print well — Séan Jennett
b. : well advanced toward reduction to baselevel — used of topography and topographic features or their age
a wide, nearly level floor … characterizes an old valley — W.J.Miller
c. obsolete : dressed in old clothes : shabby
the rest were ragged, old , and beggarly — Shakespeare
d. : no longer in use : discarded
the profitable … reworking of old tailings — American Guide Series: Nevada
e. : of a grayish or dusty tone — used of a color
Synonyms:
ancient , venerable , antique , antiquated , antediluvian , archaic , obsolete : old is a general term opposed to young or new, describing whatever has had a long life or existence. ancient , often opposed to modern, applies to what has been in existence from the remote past; it may suggest possession of valuable characteristics (as rarity or wisdom) accruing from age, describe an aspect of the distant now dead past, or be used to indicate hoary antiquity
some illustrious line so ancient that it has no beginning — Edward Gibbon
the civilization of China is ancient — Havelock Ellis
poets of ancient Greece
ancient pre-Inca Peruvians — Current Biography
the decrepit manager who was too ancient and incompetent for more serious employment — Ellen Glasgow
venerable usually implies respect or veneration
venerable men, you have come down to us from a former generation — Daniel Webster
the ruins, Etruscan, Roman, Christian, venerable with a threefold antiquity — Nathaniel Hawthorne
but sometimes emphasizes decrepitude
a venerable Hudson whose driver makes periodic stops to wield a screwdriver and siphon gasoline — Claudia Cassidy
antique is a close synonym of ancient; it is likely to apply to something old-fashioned that has acquired value through rarity or nostalgic charm
a savor of the antique, primeval world and the earliest hopes and victories of mankind — Laurence Binyon
antique monsters, older than Italy and Greece, than Babylon and Carthage — Llewelyn Powys
such prosperous cities had already in Leland's day outgrown their antique suits of stone armor — G.M.Trevelyan
an antique clock
antiquated usually applies to what is discredited or deprecated as outmoded
we are apt to scorn our neighbor because his rate of motion is faster or more sluggish than our own. He is antiquated if he clings to the values of yesterday — A.L.Guérard
as antiquated as the powdered periwig of an eighteenth century courtier — Waldemar Kaempffert
antediluvian carries an even stronger sense of deprecation
up-to-date models of scientific inquiry have steadily replaced the antediluvian constructions of an earlier generation — Ethel Albert
archaic applies to what belongs to or has the characteristics of an earlier period
when new opinions have overthrown the archaic institutions, they will create new institutions in harmony with themselves — S.M.Crothers
Portugal at this time, archaic in its chivalry, had the most resplendent court in Europe — Francis Hackett
methinks is an archaic construction
obsolete applies to what has been entirely displaced or superseded
obsolete as the feudal baron — J.C.Snaith
the relationship between the English king and the English people is a relationship far more modern and far better fitted to the needs of the times than the obsolete language and the obsolete trappings of the court suggest — D.W.Brogan
instructing his civil officers in California to regard General Kearny's orders as obsolete — Irving Stone
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English ald, old, from ald, old, adjective
1. obsolete : an advanced stage : old age
they must not be gelded … in the old of the moon — Richard Surflet & Gervase Markham
2. : an earlier time or period
in days of old when knights were bold — Edward Thomas
3. : one that is of a specified age — usually used in combination
had come to the park when she was a five-year- old — W.A.White
for 14 and 15 year olds the reduction has been about 38 percent — American Child
entered a promising two-year- old in the Derby
•
- of old
III. |ōl(d) adverb
Etymology: old (I)
: of old : anciently — used chiefly in combination
old -established
IV. adjective
: tiresome
doing it the same way all the time will get old — Laurie Sue Brockway