old
old (ōld) adjective
older, oldest
1. a. Having lived or existed for a relatively long time; far advanced in years or life. b. Relatively advanced in age: Pamela is our oldest child.
2. Made long ago; in existence for many years: an old book.
3. Of or relating to a long life or to people who have had long lives: a ripe old age.
4. Having or exhibiting the physical characteristics of age: a prematurely old face.
5. Having or exhibiting the wisdom of age; mature: a child who is old for his years.
6. Having lived or existed for a specified length of time: She was 12 years old.
7. a. Belonging to a remote or former period in history; ancient: old fossils. b. Belonging to or being of an earlier time: her old classmates.
8. Often Old Abbr. O, o. Being the earlier or earliest of two or more related objects, stages, versions, or periods.
9. Geology. a. Having become slower in flow and less vigorous in action. Used of a river. b. Having become simpler in form and of lower relief. Used of a landform.
10. Exhibiting the effects of time or long use; worn: an old coat.
11. Known through long acquaintance; long familiar: an old friend.
12. Skilled or able through long experience; practiced.
13. Often ol' (ōl) a. Used as an intensive: Come back any old time. Don't give me any ol' excuse. b. Used to express affection or familiarity: Good ol' Sam.
noun
1. An individual of a specified age: a five-year-old. See Usage Note at elder1.
2. Old people considered as a group. Used with the: caring for the old.
3. Former times; yore: in days of old.
[Middle English, from Old English eald.]
oldʹness noun
Synonyms: old, ancient, archaic, antediluvian, obsolete, antique, antiquated. These adjectives describe what belongs to or dates from an earlier time or period. Old is the most general term: old lace; an old saying; old colleagues; an old Dutch painting. Ancient pertains to the distant past: "the hills,/Rock-ribbed, and ancient as the sun" (William Cullen Bryant). Archaic implies a very remote, often primitive period: an archaic Greek bronze of the seventh century B.C. He was convicted under an archaic statute that had never been repealed. Antediluvian applies to what is so old and outdated that it seems to belong to the period preceding the biblical Flood: lived in a ramshackle, antediluvian tenement; "a branch of one of your antediluvian families" (William Congreve). Obsolete indicates the fact of having fallen into disuse: an obsolete custom; obsolete methods of research. "Either man is obsolete or war is" (R. Buckminster Fuller). Antique is applied both to what is very old and to what is especially appreciated or valued because of its age: "in hat of antique shape" (Matthew Arnold). She collects antique French furniture and porcelains. Antiquated describes what is out of date, no longer fashionable, or discredited: "No idea is so antiquated that it was not once modern. No idea is so modern that it will not someday be antiquated" (Ellen Glasgow). See also synonyms at elderly.