Old
WordNet
adjective
(1) Just preceding something else in time or order
"The previous owner"
"My old house was larger"
(2) Of a very early stage in development
"Old English is also called Anglo Saxon"
"Old High German is High German from the middle of the 9th to the end of the 11th century"
(3) Old in experience
"An old offender"
"The older soldiers"
(4) Of long duration; not new
"Old tradition"
"Old house"
"Old wine"
"Old country"
"Old friendships"
"Old money"
(5) (used especially of persons) having lived for a relatively long time or attained a specific age
"An old man's eagle mind"--William Butler Yeats
"His mother is very old"
"A ripe old age"
"How old are you?"
(6) Belonging to some prior time
"Erstwhile friend"
"Our former glory"
"The once capital of the state"
"Her quondam lover"
noun
(7) Past times (especially in the phrase `in days of old')
WiktionaryText
Etymology
ald, from Germanic *alđoz ‘grown-up’, originally a participle form corresponding to Latin altus. Cognate with Dutch oud, German alt, West Frisian âld, Scots auld.
Adjective
- Of an object, concept, relationship, etc., having existed for a relatively long period of time.
- an old abandoned building
- an old friend
- Of a living being, having lived for relatively many years.
- a wrinkled old man
- Having existed or lived for the specified time.
- How old are they? She’s five years old and he’s seven. We also have a young teen and a two-year-old.
- My great-grandfather lived to be a hundred and one years old.
- Former, previous.
- My new car is not as good as my old one.
- 1994, Michael Grumley, Life Drawing
- But over my old life, a new life had formed.
- Obsolete; out-of-date.
- That is the old way of doing things; now we do it this way.
- Tiresome
- Your constant pestering is getting old.
- Said of subdued colors, particularly reds, pinks and oranges, as if they had faded over time.
Synonyms
ancient, long in the tooth aged, ageing / aging, elderly, long in the tooth aged, of age erstwhile, ex-, former, one-time, past antiquated, obsolete (words)