adj
Meaning 1
Old.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
eld
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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/ɛld/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ɛld
noun
Meaning 2
One's age, age in years, period of life.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: dialectal, rare, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
Old age, senility; an old person.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, poetic, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: elderliness, age, chair days, codgerhood, eld, fogeydom, geezerdom, golden years, old age, oldhood, senescence, senectitude, superannuation, twilight years, sunset years, vetustity, ager, antique, badge-cove, cheeser, coffin dodger, crinkly, elder, elderly, geriatric, genarian, geezer, grayhead, greyhead, hoarhead, mzee, old, no spring chicken, old timer, old-timer, oldtimer, older adult, oldie, oldster, senior, senior citizen, silver top, twirly, weazen, wrinkly
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
Time; an age, an indefinitely long period of time.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, poetic, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: aeon, age, ages, blue moon, coon's age, crow's age, dog's age, donkey's years, eld, eon, eternity, forever, forever and a day, interim, interlude, interval, lifetime, long haul, long run, meantime, minute, month of Sundays, spell, while, years, yonks
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
Former ages, antiquity, olden times.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, poetic, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: days of yore, foreday, foretide, foretime, old days, past, yestertide, yestertime, yesteryear, yore
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 6
To age, become or grow old.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, dialectal, intransitive, poetic
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 7
To delay; linger.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, intransitive, poetic
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 8
To make old, age.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, poetic, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 9
a time of life (usually defined in years) at which some particular qualification or power arises
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- she was now of school age
- tall for his eld
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: age
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: time of life
Narrower terms: age of consent, majority, legal age, minority, nonage, drinking age, voting age
noun
Meaning 10
a late time of life
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- old age is not for sissies
- he's showing his years
- age hasn't slowed him down at all
- a beard white with eld
- on the brink of geezerhood
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: old age, years, age, geezerhood
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: time of life
Narrower terms: dotage, second childhood, senility
History
Etymology
From Middle English elde, from Old English ieldu, eldo, ieldo (“age, period of time; period; time of life, years; mature or old age, eld; an age of the world, era, epoch”), from Proto-West Germanic *aldī, from Proto-Germanic *alþį̄ (“eld, age”), from *aldaz (“grown up, mature, old”), from Proto-Indo-European *h2eltós, from *h2el- (“to raise, feed”). Cognate with Scots eild (“age”), North Frisian jelde (“age”), German Älte (“age”), Danish ælde (“eld, age”), Icelandic elli (“eld, age”). Related also to Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌳𐍃 (alds, “generation, age”), Old English alan (“to grow up, nourish”). More at old.