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单词 old
释义
oldold /əʊld $ oʊld/ ●●● S1 W1 adjective (comparative older, superlative oldest) Entry menu
MENU FOR oldold1 not new2 not young3 age4 that you used to have5 familiar6 very well known7 the old days8 the good old days/the bad old days9 be/feel/look like your old self10 any old thing/place/time etc11 any old how/way12 good/poor/silly old etc somebody13 a good old something14 old devil/rascal etc15 old fool/bastard/bat etc16 the old guard17 be an old hand (at something)18 be old before your time19 for old times’ sake20 the old country21 an old head on young shoulders22 pay/settle an old score23 of/from the old school24 old wives’ tale25 of old26 Old English/Old Icelandic etc
Word Origin
WORD ORIGINold
Origin:
Old English eald
Examples
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
  • a beat-up old car
  • a lovely old oak tree
  • a six-week-old baby
  • An old man was in the park feeding the pigeons.
  • an old woman
  • Do you have any old magazines the kids can cut up?
  • For the first time in my life, I feel old.
  • How old is your cat?
  • I have two brothers, both older than me.
  • I saw Phil with one of my old girlfriends.
  • I was the youngest one in the family, so I had to wear my sisters' old clothes.
  • It's one of the oldest buildings in San Francisco.
  • My parents are giving us their old sofa.
  • She shouldn't marry him - he's much too old for her.
  • She wanted to have a baby before she was too old.
  • Sikes got out of jail in 1983, and was soon back to his old habits.
  • Sue was wearing jeans and an old blue jacket.
  • The Luna Baglioni is one of the oldest hotels in Venice.
  • The new stadium is much bigger than the old one.
EXAMPLES FROM THE CORPUS
  • An older pair tending their spawn.
  • His fewer statements lack that old zing.
  • Joan was nineteen years old when she died.
  • The Biblical story does more than turn the older myth on its head.
  • The two older children had no legal advice.
  • This was when the need to live together came not from the older generation, but from the child's own family.
  • We also converted naptime into reading time once the children were older.
Thesaurus
THESAURUSperson
having lived for a long time: · an old man· I’m too old to learn a new language.
a polite word for old: · an elderly lady· a home for the elderly (=elderly people)· If you are elderly, you may be eligible for financial assistance.
(also ageing British English) [only before noun] becoming old: · an ageing rock star· the problems of an ageing population
[only before noun] written aged relatives are very old: · aged parents· She had to look after her aged aunt.
especially British English [only before noun] an older brother or sister. Elder sounds more formal than older: · I have two elder brothers.
[not usually before noun] informal very old – used humorously: · I’ll be 30 next year – it sounds really ancient!
informal to be fairly old: · He’s 60 now, so he’s getting on a bit.
(also be past it British English) informal to be too old to do something: · Everyone thinks you’re past it when you get to 40.
[only before noun] relating to medical care and treatment for old people: · a geriatric hospital· geriatric patients
thing
· an old car· an old Chinese saying
very old – used about things that existed thousands of years ago, or things that look very old: · ancient civilisations· an ancient Rolls Royce
antique furniture, clocks, jewellery etc are old and often valuable: · an antique writing desk
used about traditions, problems, or situations that have existed for a very long time: · the age-old tradition of morris dancing· the age-old prejudice against women in positions of power· the age-old problem of nationalism· age-old hatreds between religious groups
Longman Language Activatornot young
· She wanted to have a baby before she was too old.· For the first time in my life, I feel old.· An old man was in the park feeding the pigeons.too old for somebody (=too old to have a romantic relationship with someone) · She shouldn't marry him - he's much too old for her.
old - use this as a polite way of talking about old people: · A group of elderly ladies sat drinking coffee in the cafeteria.· An elderly Englishwoman was seated next to me on the plane.· A few decades ago, the average cruise ship passenger was elderly, affluent, and retired. Not anymore.
: ageing rock star/movie star/hippy/romeo etc one who is becoming old, especially in an unattractive way, and seems too old to be a rock star, film star etc: · The bar was fill with ageing hippies.· These days, most of the houses in the Hollywood Hills are owned by aging movie stars and rich businessmen.
especially British a humorous but slightly unkind word meaning very old: · He's not just old, he's ancient. absolutely/completely/really etc ancient: · Mum looks absolutely ancient in this picture.
informal to be fairly old: · Cal is getting on a bit and doesn't play much golf anymore.getting on in years: · Ethel's getting on in years now -- she must be in her late 60s.
if you say you are not as young as you were , you mean you are getting old, especially so that you are not strong enough or healthy enough to do things that you used to do: · We do go out sometimes, but not very often. I guess we're not as young as we used to be.· "I'm not as young as I once was," concedes the cigar-chomping, 48-year-old Mr. Tiant.
skin that is wrinkled has lines on it that are caused by old age: · Her face looked old and wrinkled in the morning light.wrinkled old man/woman: · At the far end of the market, a wrinkled old woman sat smoking a pipe.
a wizened old man or woman has a small, bent body and lines on their skin because they are very old: · He barely recognized her wizened face and haggard features.wizened old man/woman: · The door was opened by a wizened old man clutching a walking stick.
not young anymore but not yet old, usually between the ages of around 40 to 65: · The condition predominantly affects middle-aged or elderly females.· a middle-aged businessman
older than someone else
· I have one older brother and two younger brothers.· People say that older people need less sleep.older than · Donna's husband's a lot older than she is.
: elder brother/sister someone's older brother or sister: · Wright's elder sister is also an actor.· John's elder brother died in a boating accident.
: eldest brother/sister/son/daughter someone's oldest brother, sister, son, or daughter: · I shared a bedroom with my eldest sister.· Their eldest son, Howard, is an administrator at Castle Park High School.the eldest (=the oldest): · Rosie was the eldest of our four daughters.
· Did you know that the oldest woman in America is 110 years old?· Tonya, our oldest daughter, got married in April.
your elders are people who are older than you, such as your parents or teachers, and who you should therefore respect and be polite to: your elders: · Respect your elders.· You shouldn't talk to your elders like that!
too old to do something
British informal · Talbot's past it -- he should have given up playing basketball long ago.· I'm starting to think I'm past it -- I'm not nearly as quick as I used to be.
if you are over the hill , you are no longer young or attractive, and your mental and physical abilities are getting weaker: · By that time, many in government viewed De Gaulle as over the hill.· According to the survey, many employers regard staff over the age of 45 as over the hill.
British /be a little long in the tooth American old, especially too old to do something: · A lot of the top English players are getting a bit long in the tooth.
to become or start to look old
· Aunt Bertha's getting old now, and she needs someone to take care of her.grow old gracefully (=accept old age easily) · She wanted to grow old gracefully, and retire to a cottage in the country.
if someone ages , they change so that they look older, because they have lived a long time or because they have suffered a lot over a particular period: · I couldn't believe how much she had aged.· She noticed for the first time how Frederick had aged.· Western men tend to age more quickly than Japanese men.
the process of becoming old: · Our society is full of negative attitudes towards ageing and old people.the ageing/aging process: · Some memory loss is a normal part of the aging process.premature ageing/aging (=ageing earlier than usual): · His hair was white and he showed other signs of premature ageing.
if someone shows their age , they look older, or they talk or behave in a way that makes other people realize they are old: · She's still very beautiful, but she's starting to show her age now.· This is probably showing my age, but I remember when popcorn cost 25 cents and came in those little white paper bags.
an old person
· The old lady was rather deaf.· When the militia was called up, old men and boys were drafted as well.dirty old man (=an older man who is too sexually interested in younger women) · Charles wondered if he was becoming a dirty old man.grumpy old man (=an old man who is easily annoyed and complains a lot) · My grandfather was an old-fashioned, bigoted, grumpy old man.
old people - used especially to talk about the needs of old people or services for them: · Right now, only 6 percent of the elderly in the United States receive public assistance.· The programs have been highly successful at reducing poverty rates among the elderly.
also senior American someone who is above the age of 60 - use this to talk about older people as a group, and their particular interests, rights etc: · Admission prices are £6 for adults, £5 for senior citizens and £3 for children.· Many seniors have very active lives.
British an old person who has stopped working and receives money from the government: · Many pensioners cannot afford to heat their homes in winter.· Old age pensioners can travel free on the buses.
a retired person is someone who is old and has stopped working: · The company specializes in holidays for retired people.· Our neighbours were an old retired couple.retired judge/engineer/police officer etc: · Among those attending was a retired federal judge from Philadelphia named Bennett Mayall.
American informal an old man - often used humorously: · What can I do for you, old timer?· The three-day event is a chance for old timers to get together and swap war stories.
relating to old people
: geriatric hospital/medicine/patient etc · Geriatric hospitals are often severely under-staffed.· The clinic specializes in geriatric medicine.
British used about the political or economic power of old people as a group: · the grey power movement in Britain · Conservatives have started to realize that they cannot take the grey vote for granted.
the time when someone is old
the time in someone's life when they are old: · She's a little forgetful, but that comes with old age.· the problems of old agein old age British: · By now, both were in extreme old age.
the time in someone's life when they are old, especially when their mind becomes weak - used especially in written English: in your dotage: · Thurmond is as mean in his dotage as he was in his younger days.
not new
· Sue was wearing jeans and an old blue jacket.· What she loved most about the old house was its privacy and spaciousness.· The Luna Baglioni is one of the oldest hotels in Venice.
very old - use this about buildings, cities, countries, languages, or customs that existed many hundreds of years ago: · Rome is famous for its ancient monuments.· an ancient Greek vaseancient Egypt/Rome/Babylon etc: · the pyramids of ancient Egyptthe ancient Egyptians/Chinese/Greeks etc (=the people who lived in Egypt etc many hundreds of years ago): · The ancient Chinese believed that we are born with a finite amount of energy in our bodies called chi.
: age-old symbol/custom/tradition etc one that has existed for a very long time: · The vine is an age-old symbol of peace and prosperity.· man's age-old fear of snakes
informal very old, used especially for describing machines, equipment etc: · This refrigerator is ancient -- it's time we bought a new one.· Doc drives an ancient Ford convertible.
British informal if you say that something is years old , you mean it is very old: · "I like your sweater." "Oh, thanks. It's years old -- I've had it since I was a teenager."
stories, jokes, customs etc that are as old as the hills are so old that no one remembers when they were first invented: · That story is as old as the hills!
when something has been used before
old clothes, books, chairs etc have already been worn or used a lot by someone else: · My parents are giving us their old sofa.· Do you have any old magazines the kids can cut up?· I was the youngest one in the family, so I had to wear my sisters' old clothes.
second-hand books, clothes, cars etc have already been owned by someone else and are then sold: · Max spent the whole afternoon looking around a second-hand book store.· Do you know where I can buy a second-hand bicycle?· second-hand clothingbuy/get something second-hand: · "Is that table new?" "No, we got it second-hand."
a used car, book, musical instrument etc is one that someone else has already owned: · He made his money buying and selling used cars.· This huge Portland bookshop is crammed with more than 1 million new and used books organized into 122 subject areas.
old and valuable
antique furniture, jewellery, clocks etc are old and valuable, and often beautiful to look at: · a lovely antique desk· Jacobs collects antique fountain pens.
use this about a car or a wine that is old and one of the best of its type: · "A lot of people have never been in an open car," says Mike Jacobsen, a computer programmer, who has four vintage convertibles. · They lunched on lobster and strawberries, accompanied by a fine vintage champagne.
something such as a piece of furniture or a beautiful object that is old and valuable: · The house is full of valuable antiques.antique shop/dealer/market (=one that sells antiques): · While some of the people attending were looking to decorate their own houses, most appeared to be antique dealers.
ways of saying how old a building, car, machine etc is
· Their home is over 100 years old.· The fossils are over 100 million years old.· The pyramids were already 2000 years old when the Greek historian Herodotus visited them.
used especially in written descriptions: · A 500-year-old church in Leipzig is being threatened with demolition.· a 1500-year-old Latin manuscript
how long someone has lived or something has existed
the number of years that someone has lived or something has existed: the age of somebody/something: · The average age of the students here is eighteen.· The amount you pay for license tags and registration depends on the age of the vehicle.somebody's age: · I tried to guess her age but couldn't.· Their children's ages range from twelve to seventeen.be somebody's age (=be the same age as someone): · When I was your age I was already working.of my age/her age etc (=about the same age as me, her etc): · I'm surprised someone of your age didn't know that.at the age of 10/20 etc written (=use this to say how old someone was when something happened): · Dewhurst died at the age of seventy-three.over/under the age of (=older or younger than): · Anyone over the age of fourteen has to pay the full fare.be small/tall etc for your age (=be small, tall etc compared with other people of the same age): · Jimmy's very tall for his age.· She's in her seventies, but very fit for her age.
use this to ask or talk about the age of a person or thing: · How old is Paul?· I'm not sure how old the cat is -- three or four, I suppose.
ways of saying how old someone is
· Julie's going to be thirty next month.· When I was eighteen, I thought I knew everything.· Luke is three and Marie is seven.
· Simone is nearly fifteen years old.· My sister got married when she was thirty-eight years old.
formal · He was tall, well-dressed and appeared to be about thirty-five years of age.· Elephants do not become sexually active until they are fifteen to eighteen years of age.
used especially in written descriptions: · The child, aged ten, was last seen in a park on Bishop Street.· A recent survey of youths aged thirteen to eighteen shows that twelve percent are smoking regularly. · Females aged eighteen to thirty-four have an increased risk of contracting the disease.
(=aged 5/10/35 etc) used especially in written descriptions: · His ninety-five-year-old great-grandfather still rides his bike every day.· She has to pick up her twelve-year-old son from school at 3:30.· Twenty-one-year-old Elizabeth Parker will be the soloist in tonight's concert.
use this especially to say what someone who is a particular age can do: · If a man of fifty-five loses his job, he'll never get another.· It's so simple, a child of four could use it.
use this to give a general idea of how old someone is: · He was tall, with brown hair and dark eyes - I'd say he was in his forties.early twenties/30s etc: · In my early twenties, I applied for my first job as a teacher.mid-twenties/30s etc: · She's retired, but she's only in her mid-50s.late twenties/30s etc: · A lot of women in their late twenties start thinking about having a family.
to have recently become 20, 30 etc: · McClelland recently turned forty.
informal between the ages of 20 and 29, 30 and 39 etc: · a forty-something couple from Orlando
someone or something that existed before or that you had before
the previous person or thing is the one that existed just before now or before the time you are talking about: · The car's previous owner didn't take very good care of it.· Please ignore my previous instructions.
the last thing or person is the one that you had just before now, or the one that existed just before now: · The last apartment we lived in was much smaller than this one.· Beth broke up with her last boyfriend because he drank too much.
: ex-wife/ex-boyfriend/ex-soldier etc someone who used to be someone's wife, used to be a soldier etc, but is not any more: · Her dad's an ex-policeman.· Lydia is still friends with her ex-husband.
: somebody's old job/car/girlfriend/boss etc the job, car etc that someone had before the one they have now: · The new stadium is much bigger than the old one.· I saw Phil with one of my old girlfriends.· We all liked the old teacher better.
the person or thing that existed before the one you have just mentioned: · I didn't enjoy Spielberg's last film but I thought the one before was all right.· Each year, the convention is a little larger than the one before.
formal use this especially to talk about someone who used to have a particular job or position but does not any more: · Her former husband now lives in Houston.· Weinberger was an advisor to former president Ronald Reagan.
formal someone's predecessor is the person who had the same job before them: · Vandenberg has been a more active director than his predecessor.· Sally's predecessor had warned her about Nick, one of the company vice-presidents.
formal someone whose ideas or style are later used by another more famous person, or an organization, movement or machine that later develops into one that is more important: precursor of/to: · The abacus was the precursor of the modern electronic calculator.· The Office of Strategic Services was the precursor of the CIA.
the first person, organization, machine etc that existed before the one that exists now and that the one that exists now is based on: forerunner of: · The P-50 is a forerunner of today's supersonic jet.· Hansen played in the American Basketball League, a forerunner of the NBA.
something that someone believes that is definitely not true
a belief or idea that is false, especially a belief in something good about yourself or about the situation you are in: · She thought he loved her but it was just an illusion.· Alcohol gives some people the illusion of being witty and confident.illusion that: · There seems to be a widespread illusion that there are no class barriers anymore.under an illusion: · People had bought these houses under the illusion that their value would just keep on rising.
something that a lot of people believe but which is completely untrue: · The idea that a good night's sleep will cure everything is a complete fallacy.· It's a fallacy that all fat people are fat simply because they eat too much.
something a lot of people believe because they want to believe it, not because it is based on fact: · The first myth about motherhood is that new mothers instantly fall in love with their babies.· It is a myth that battered women deserve or want to be beaten.
a completely mistaken idea about yourself or the situation you are in, especially one that everyone else knows is wrong: · She now had to finally forget the dreams and delusions of her youthunder a delusion: · I was still under the delusion that everyone was trying to cheat me.
a belief you have that is wrong, although you do not realize it is wrong at the time when you have it: · When I started as a teacher I had the mistaken belief that all kids are interested in learning.
something that is not true but which people believe because they do not have all the facts or they have not properly understood the situation: · No, it's not actually true that rail travel is more expensive - that's a misconception.misconception that: · Employers seem to share the general misconception that young people are more efficient than older workers.
a popular belief or piece of advice that has existed for a long time but which you think is stupid: · It's not true that if trees have a lot of fruit in the autumn it will be a cold winter - that's just an old wives' tale.
experienced in a particular job or activity
someone who is experienced knows a lot about a job or activity because they have done it for a long time: · Ms Carter is one of our most experienced teachers.experienced in (doing) something: · This job would suit someone experienced in dealing with the public.highly experienced (=very experienced): · Highly experienced cost estimators for construction projects earn around $80,000 a year.
: seasoned traveller/politician/professional etc someone who has done something regularly for a long time and knows all the problems involved: · Being a seasoned traveller, he was fully prepared for the long delay at the airport.· We need a seasoned manager to run this project.
British /practiced American someone who is practised in a particular job or skill has become good at it through experience: · A practised observer would quickly notice changes in the birds' behaviour.practised in: · Morris is a skilful salesman, practiced in the art of persuasion.
someone who has been doing something important in public life for a very long time and is respected by other people: veteran of: · Chiles, a three-term veteran of the U.S. Senate, won the governorship of Florida.veteran campaigner/statesman/broadcaster etc: · Millett is a veteran campaigner for women's rights.· Veteran diplomat Richard Murphy is heading the commission.
someone who has been doing something for a long time and knows all the best ways of doing it: · Charlie will show you what to do - he's one of our old hands.old hand at: · Nurse Baker is an old hand at dealing with difficult patients.
informal to have a lot of knowledge about something, gained from experience: · You may not want to believe me, but I do know a thing or two.know a thing or two about: · I think he knows a thing or two about football - he's been playing for 15 years.
to know how to do all the parts of a job or to be able to deal with a system because you have had a lot of experience: · The best way to learn is to spend some time with someone who knows the ropes.· People who shop at thrift stores regularly know the ropes.
informal someone whom you admire because of their great skill and experience in a particular job, profession, or activity: · My accountant knows his stuff - he's a real pro.old pro: · If there's a fish down there he'll catch it - he's a old pro.
a very good friend
someone that you know very well and like very much: · Helen is one of my closest friends.· Sam and I didn't get along very well at first but now we're really good friends.· They were close friends of my parents when we lived in Minneapolis.
the one special friend who is more important to you than any other: · We lived next door to each other when we were kids, and we've been best friends ever since.· Caroline and her best friend both had babies within three weeks of each other.
a good friend that you have known for a long time: · Lotte's one of my oldest friends.· I saw a few old friends at the reunion.
friends who are inseparable are together most of the time: · My brother and James have been inseparable since they were at primary school.· The three girls were inseparable friends.
also go way back informal if two people go back a long way , they have known each other or been working together for a very long time: · Sam and I go way back. We sat next to each other in first grade.· I know your aunt - in fact we go back a long way.
someone that you have a romantic or sexual relationship with
a girl or woman that you have a romantic relationship with, especially for a fairly long time: somebody's girlfriend: · I met my brother's new girlfriend last night.· Katherine is his first girlfriend since breaking up with Maggie.have a girlfriend: · Does Mark have a girlfriend?old/ex-/former girlfriend (=someone who used to be your girlfriend): · Denver police said the suspect had earlier made threats to kill his ex-girlfriend and then himself.serious/steady girlfriend (=a girlfriend that you have a serious romantic relationship with): · Wendell hasn't had a steady girlfriend in years.
a boy or man that you have a romantic relationship with, especially for a fairly long time : somebody's boyfriend: · Josh was my first boyfriend.· All she does is talk about her boyfriend.have a boyfriend: · I was talking to this guy at the bar and he starting asking me whether I was married or had a boyfriend.old/ex-/former boyfriend (=someone who used to be your boyfriend): · Oh, my God! I've just seen Barry, my ex-boyfriend.serious/steady boyfriend (=a boyfriend that you have a serious romantic relationship with): · Sarah's doing well and has a serious boyfriend, Michael, whom she plans to marry next year.
someone that you have a serious romantic and sexual relationship with, especially someone that you live with: · Sweden allows gay partners to receive many of the benefits awarded to heterosexual married couples.sexual partner: · The survey found that only about one of every four men had had ten or more sexual partners over their lifetime.
a woman who has a sexual relationship with a man who is married to someone else: · She thought that her husband had a mistress but could not prove it.· The former Prime Minister's wife and mistress both attended the funeral.
someone who you have a sexual relationship with, without being married to them: somebody's lover: · That night she received a call from her lover.have a lover: · Over her lifetime, Catherine had many lovers.become lovers: · A few nights later, they became lovers.be lovers: · Kilpatrick claims that she and the congressman were once lovers.
informal someone who was your girlfriend or boyfriend in the past: · In a box in the closet, I found love letters from one of his old flames.· After 17 years of marriage, he left his wife for an old flame he ran into at a high school reunion.
someone you love
the people you love, especially the members of your family: · Many prisoners find it difficult being separated from their loved ones.· They are fighting to protect their loved ones from oppression and violence.
your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, or wife - used especially in advertisements or sayings: · Flowers are the perfect gift for the one you love.· You know what they say: you always hurt the one you love.
the person who you have loved the most in your life: · Claude has always been the love of her life.· He knew as soon as he met her that Sumana would be the love of his life.
someone who was your girlfriend or boyfriend in the past, especially someone that you still like: · I met up with an old flame, and we sat and chatted for a while.
people
· Mr Griffiths is a real old-fashioned teacher who still believes that learning lessons by heart is the best method.· My Dad was very old-fashioned and didn't approve of me going to nightclubs with my friends.
to think and behave as if life is still like it was when you were young, especially because you do not like the modern world: · You've got to get over it, honey - you've got to stop living in the past.· Critics say Buchanan is living in the past, and remind him that the 1950s was a time when women were shackled to the kitchen, and African-Americans held back by discrimination.
a person or organization who is behind the times , is old-fashioned because they have not changed while the world around them has changed: · People in these parts tend to be way behind the times when it comes to issues such as women's rights.· Once the giants of British retailing, they are now seen as being behind the times.
having a very strong, old-fashioned attitude to moral behaviour: · My aunt's very straitlaced - she'd be shocked if you mentioned sex.· They lost touch with Hermine after she married a very straightlaced Lutheran minister, and disappeared from the social scene.
informal someone who you think is old-fashioned and boring because they disapprove of new ideas and are unwilling to change their attitudes: · Don't be such a fuddy duddy!· The election broadcast made the President look like a fuddy duddy with ridiculously old-fashioned ideas.
informal someone, usually an old person, who you disapprove of because they prefer old-fashioned ideas and ways of doing things to modern ones: · The old fogies all sit together and talk about the old days.· This country is being run by a bunch of old fogies -- we need some fresh blood, people with initiative.
a group of people with old-fashioned opinions, who have been in an organization or society for a long time and oppose anyone who wants to change things: · Inevitably, the revolution is affecting the old guard much more than the rest of us.· The party's old guard have their own candidate for leader.
a person who believes that the old ways of doing things are the best, and who does not like modern methods or ideas: · I'm something of a traditionalist myself, I'd much rather use pen and paper than a word-processor.· There are still many traditionalists in the church who strongly oppose the idea of women priests.
usual
use this about something that usually happens or something that someone usually does or uses: · She was sitting in her usual chair by the fire.· All the usual people were there.colder/better/slower etc than usual: · It seemed colder than usual in the house.· We've sold more than the usual amount of coal this year.it is usual for somebody to do something: · Is it usual for him to be so late?
someone's normal behaviour or habit is what they usually do in a particular situation: · She went to bed at her normal time of eleven o'clock.· It used to be normal practice to live at home with your parents until you got married.normal for: · Don't worry if Mike seemed rude - that's normal for him.be normal for somebody to do something: · It's normal for young children to misbehave sometimes.
to be the thing that most people do or think: · Going to church on Sunday used to be the norm in most households.· In the building industry, short-term employment contracts are the norm.· Smoking is no longer the norm but the exception.
usually done on a particular occasion or at a particular time of year: · We were presented with the customary bottle of champagne.it is customary to do something: · It's customary to kiss the bride at a wedding.as is customary: · As is customary, you will be paid a fixed fee for the job.
something that is routine is done as part of the normal process of working, doing a job etc: · A major electrical fault was found during a routine safety inspection.· The hospital carried out some routine tests.· Do you mind if I ask you a few questions? It's just routine.
informal use this about something that you have seen or heard many times before: · They always come up with the same old excuses for why they can't deliver on time.· They still sing the same old songs, but the audiences love it!the same old story (=use this when it is annoying that the same thing always happens): · It's always the same old story. They're two or three goals up, and then they relax and end up losing.
stock phrases, questions, answers, excuses etc are the ones that people usually use - use this about phrases, questions etc that have been used so often that they are no longer effective: · Her speech contained all the stock phrases about increasing productivity and reducing costs.· The same questions seem to be asked every time, and he gives his stock answers.
Collocations
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY Meaning 3phrases
· My dad is 45 years old.
· a three-year-old boy
· ‘How old is your daughter?’ ‘She’s ten.’
· He was too old for military service.
· You’re old enough to help with the cooking.
(=used when you think someone should behave more sensibly)· He’s old enough to know better, but he went and did it anyway!
(=used when you think that someone is much too old to be having a relationship with another person)· Why would she want to go out with someone who was old enough to be her father?
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
 the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words
· I’ve only got his old address.
 his old adversary
(=the time when you are old)· the problems of old age
British English age-old customs
 the age-old problem of sexual discrimination
· The programme mainly appeals to an older audience.
 an old banger
 I feel a bit better now.
 She’s just talking a load of old bollocks.
· I have two older brothers.
· A four-year-old child should not be left on their own.
· He seemed to believe that old cliché about a woman’s place being in the home.
· I decided to throw out all my old-fashioned clothes.
· Here on the island, many of the old customs have survived.
(=one you have had a long time)· In 1548, Scotland moved towards an alliance with her traditional enemy, England.
· He made the usual excuses for not coming.· Whenever the trains are late, it's always the same old excuse.
· The old-fashioned expression 'in the family way' means to be pregnant.
 A handful of old faithfuls came to the meeting.
 a sweater that’s an old favorite
 You’re turning into a real old fogey!
British English old-fashioned Young folk these days don’t know the meaning of work.
 You silly old fool!
(=someone who has been your friend for a long time)· We went to see some old friends who had moved to Harlow.
 You’re such an old fuddy-duddy!
 It’s a funny old world (=strange or unusual things happen in life).
· These beliefs were common among the older generation.
 The patient was a girl of 12.
(=one that you have felt unhappy about for a long time)· Years later, we became friends again and sorted out our old grievances.
 I guess he’ll try to reach his old stomping ground to drum up support.
· He said they should celebrate their achievements, not nurse old grudges.
 Not that hoary old chestnut (=old idea, joke, remark etc) again.
· It reminded me of the old joke about the chicken crossing the road.
· You will have heard the old legend about how the rocks were formed.
· She was watching an old movie on television.
 He was driving much too fast.
 She kept weighing herself to see how much heavier she was getting.
(=news that you have already heard)· She wasn’t surprised; it was old news to her.
 The town has retained much of its old-world charm.
 Ali gives his opponent the old one-two, and it’s all over.
 an old pal (=a friend you have had for a long time)
· State old age pensions were introduced in 1908.
(=one that has existed for a long time)· Now is the time to patch up old quarrels.
 We had a rare old time at the party.
 Eat less and exercise more if you want to live to a ripe old age.
 She was put in charge at the ripe old age of twenty-nine.
· Hindhead had a convincing victory over their old rivals, Frensham.
· I get sick of the same old routine day after day.
 He’s the same old Peter – moody and irritable.
 That reminds me of the old saw about being careful about what you wish for.
(=the school someone went to when they were young)· He went back to his old school to give a talk to the children.
 Jack came back after five years to settle some old scores.
(=the way you were before an illness or other change)· He sounded more like his old self than the last time she had called.
(also an elder sister especially British English)· He had two older sisters, Karen and Jacqueline.
 It’s a good car, but I’m looking for something newer.
· People always want to hear their old songs.
(=used to show pity for someone) The poor old soul had fallen and broken her hip.
 a respected elder statesman
· Many people still believe that old stereotype.
 The rooms, though small, were pleasant and airy.
 Strange though it may seem, I like housework.
 tired old speeches
(=very tough) He’s as tough as nails – a good man to have on the team.
· In rural Wales, the old traditions persisted.
 He had his trusty old penknife with him.
· Some of his views now sound very old-fashioned.
 At the time I thought he was wonderful, but I’m older and wiser now.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB
· I'd forgotten what a thin face Dad had got - how old he was.· Eczema and cracked calluses were more our problem. How old is this child?· I want to know, how old are they?· If you say your sign, you are essentially telling how old you are.· Does it operate efficiently and keep the house warm in winter? How old is it and what condition is it in?· Thank you. How old is he?· The blonde student woke early in Devon, and shifted under the sleeping weight of his arm. How old he looked!· She gives her half-laugh and tells me she doesn't know how old people generally are when they get married.
· The embalmer was John Sheldon, a recently qualified surgeon not much older than Miss Johnson herself.· Now, we know kids get trained much older than we realized.· He was thirty-four, but looked much older, had a grotesquely humped back, a grey beard and droopy moustache.· Annie was not much older than Ida Rebecca, who was born in 1861.· He seemed like a different person, much older, worn and harried.· The fatal thing is to try and follow the sort of gradual schedule you would with a much older child.· I am not so much older than you.
· The elms of the Wilderness have made coffins, if they were not too old.· He said it was too old for me.· Yet others had correctly calculated that they were too old or their employment patterns too discontinuous to be eligible for pensions.· Muhammad was too old for the draft.· Besides, she was too old for Santa Claus.· Perhaps I was getting too old and not nimble enough, and too brittle in the bone.· If Dole is too old, and Buchanan too extreme, Alexander is the reassuring option.· We never grow too old for love.
· A very old couple wander along slowly.· Pacino demonstrates how well he can play a very old man.· In addition, the very old will form an increasingly large element of the total elderly population.· One day while you are diving, you find a very old boat that is full of treasure.· She was very old and very deaf.· Most achondrites are very old, dating from im-mediately after the formation of chondrites, perhaps even overlapping that time.· The gas stove was commonplace enough, although very old, standing on four straight legs.· It must be a very old family.
NOUN
· She looked rather as the Duchess of Windsor did in distracted old age.· Or I could make serious, long-term changes and hope to live to a ripe old age.· With two years until retirement, he was guaranteed a comfortable old age.· Around 1720 Daniel Defoe witnessed a splendid triumph of determined old age over adversity near Lewes.· Pessimism about the nature of old age is perhaps the greatest enemy of a happy and fulfilled old age.· For the older age groups there is a distinct gender difference in the importance of lung cancer as a cause of death.
· In one corner of the grounds, a 13-year-old boy is busy sawing wooden poles in half.· Of course, this would no longer do for 7-year-old boys.· Somebody said it wasn't cricket, old boy.· I turned to the older boy and told him to fetch them from the refrigerator.· Now that he's been loved and fattened, the old boy wags his tail and whimpers hello like a puppy.· He's a decent old boy, is my old man.
· It were Bill's older brother.· When the woman marries the older brother, younger brother is heartbroken.· I had an older brother who had and still has a great collection of 45s, but we were actually swimmers.· Another had played checkers with a little girl named Hattie Wise, and persuaded her older brother to join the order.· As a child, she had been dominated by a slightly older brother.· He had a seven-year-old brother and a two-year-old sister.· Peter's older brother, Johnny, was also a right-winger.· When she was 15, her father and older brother died of brain tumors.
· Hostility in older children is frequently inhibited from open expression as inner controls are developed.· In working hard and in paying the college bills for his two older children, he felt he had done his share.· During the midday meal the older children read edifying passages chosen by Nicholas from religious or secular history.· Problem-solving time can also be used to help an older child understand how his physical makeup affects his personality.· In due course the principle could be extended to cover child care for older children.· For example, young children are held less liable than older children.· Few authorities were felt to have a coherent policy on supporting their older children.· I dressed my brother and took him to school and picked him up after, as if I were the older child.
· Poblete Roa, who were kidnapped in 1978 along with their eight-month-old daughter, Claudia Victoria.· They see him every weekday morning drinking coffee at Las Palmas Restaurant after taking his 15-year-old daughter to school.· They have a nine-year-old daughter.· His wife and 28-year-old daughter are both potters.· A brother or sister for the couple's five-year-old daughter Hailie might not be imminent, though.· The woman was accused of having beaten her four-year-old daughter when the daughter refused to be quiet.· An older daughter had, in fact, told doctors in hospital of the situation.· The 12-year-old daughter has one version, I have another.
· In the old days there were a lot of acoustic songs, and a lot of switching.· Those are already the good old days.· They would have ordered things differently in the old days.· Maintaining an image was easy in the old days, when status was more standardized.· In the old days it was quite simple.· Anne was not prepared for the more authoritative leadership style that Laura had developed since the old days.· She says in the old days women used to look out for each other's children.· A full-tilt throwback to the good old days of Tres Hombres and Fandango.
· Although this particular occasion was rather marred by our mishap it was great to meet old friends again.· On one of these occasions, one of Gina's old friends came in useful.· Some place far, far away, where no old friend could possibly come knocking on his door.· Does this mean there aren't any, or was Goldsmith merely worried about upsetting old friends?· It was only enough to buy a tiny place in South Tucson, far from their old friends.· In the small back room Danny Tanner sat listening to his old friend Billy Sullivan's problems.· You've moved house and now live in an area away from your family and old friends.
· In their view the older generation could never be persuaded of the value of a proletarian ideology.· Others, however, find that an older generation of gang members has been beneficial in keeping younger kids from joining gangs.· However, such corporate warriors tend to be the older generation.· Care within the extended family often flows from the oldest generation to the youngest.· Many of the poster writers were former students, the older generation of educated youth who had returned from the countryside.· A child's view of the older generation is clearly very partial.· In some ways it was good, though a lot of the older generation of vets didn't like it much.· And the older generation just doing, you know, same old, same old.
· They were bought by an enthusiastic sixteen year old girl who wants to drive them when they are old enough.· Two blacks, one a fourteen-year-old girl, were killed, and dozens more were injured.· Like leapfrog and friendships with older girls the teachers always put a stop to it.· Perhaps what I thought was true had been colored by the insecurities of a ten-year-old girl.· In this film an 11-year-old girl has been brutally raped and murdered.· A frail, thirteen-year-old girl, Helen Burns, befriends Jane.· The older girls used to stand me in a corner of the playground and throw stones at me.
· Those old ladies selling bunches of flowers on the Nevsky Prospekt?· Some little old lady somewhere in the world may really have tried to dry a poodle in a microwave.· The old lady was in raptures over him, however.· More old ladies were sweeping the passage with brushwood brooms a nation of stooping, laboring grannies.· I'd have been very happy playing an old lady of ninety at the age of fifteen.· What was I trying to do with this illiterate old lady?· She immediately realized the old lady was blind.· The dead knows me! the old lady jumped to her feet, and the rope between us stretched taut.
· Poor boy, she thought, away from his loving home and now dumped with an irritable old man.· He tore his cape in half and covered the old man with it.· One old man remembered that a visit as a child to the doctor did not result in being given a prescription.· Munro admitted taking part in the killing of an 18-year-old man from Downey.· Molly's old man, Hugh Pargeter, and the young people.· An old man who worked in a poultry store was stopped for running a light.· People remembered his slogans, his grand speeches, his swim across the open river as an old man.· But he was an old man nevertheless, with young boys being so close and full of the devil.
· When we look at older people we often see large groups of grey heads on coaches or in cheap supermarkets.· We old people have lived our lives.· When this care of old people is short-lived, the inevitable prelude to death, it is accepted as natural.· Many pre-school poetry collections include material which presents negative images of older people.· There are around 180 repair schemes to help older people obtain grants or loans for repair and improvement work.· As a result, older people can often be cold without actually feeling that they are cold.· What do older people know about community nursing services?· For it has to be remembered that very old people get very tired and need to be selective about activity.
· Going to Simon's old school is his Big Dream.· Gumina is old school stern: He speaks little, but says a lot.· She was an old school friend, although we were out of school by then.· Oscar was from the old school.· Not everything old is old school.· Such shops have gone old school crazy.· Further up the village is the old school, which is now used as the village hall.
· Investigators then questioned her 14-year-old sister, who had also babysat for the Allens.· Her parents were there, sobbing painfully, her younger brother, and older sister.· Nobody looking at her would have guessed that she was the older sister of the immaculate, desirable and beautiful Stella Lumsden.· She dropped Alvin off with an older sister and left for Navasota.· The five year old plaintiff was injured while out with his seven year old sister.· Tall and slender, with pale skin and jet-black hair, she was less outgoing than her older sister.· Not yet signed to a major, but reassuringly, still peeping out of the wardrobe of their best friend's older sister.· The older sisters played too, although one broke ranks to play volleyball in her junior college days.
· In 1990 soldiers took her 18-year-old son away for questioning.· Her eight-year-old son, Scott, was turning her life into chaos.· The dead were a man, his wife, and their four year old son.· One word to the Wee Green P, old son, and you're dead meat.· He said he plans to use the prize money to establish a college fund for his 9-year-old son.· My two-year-old son chose that moment to enter the room.· Maria Park had even talked the childless presidential couple into adopting her older son.
· A 72 year old woman died of a perforated colon 11 days after completing the trial, despite continuing prednisolone treatment.· Dempsey had been booked on suspicion of mugging a 76-year-old woman.· Then somebody else died too, only the old woman didn't know who.· The benign old woman wore a big flowered garden hat and tended a magical flower garden.· Similarly, whilst until then the activity rates of older women had been climbing, thereafter they have levelled off.· He seems polite, and notably respectful of older women.· Raskolnikov has admitted to visiting the old woman on the first occasion but of course not on the second.· She is a pretty, older woman dressed in a flowery silk housecoat.
Phrases
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRY► the good old days/the bad old days
  • After five months in the hospital, I'm feeling like my old self again.
  • He could play with Orlando any old time.
  • If you believed that, then you'd believe any old thing.
  • By this time nobody was paying any attention, just stamping round any old how.
  • Go back to living in proper departments instead of any old how all over the place.
  • Like you they want to dance-not just any old way but a la Alvin Ailey.
  • The doctors and nurses knew too and just treated you any old way.
  • There's some stand any old how, you'd be really ashamed of them.
  • They've dropped things just any old how, he thought, listening to the distant chattering of the nomes.
► good/poor/silly old etc somebody
  • We had a good old time at the reunion.
  • But even marriage to a good old boy has not opened all arms to Fonda.
  • He was a good old man, and I still miss him.
  • He was a good old mule.
  • If you need thrills, excitement and a good old dose of adrenalin, then the Ducati is a top option.
  • It was high time, he intimated, that he and old Barney got together for a good old chinwag.
  • One of these days Sam is going to come up against a good old time proper door.
  • Our only hope is a good old winter storm over the Christmas holiday.
  • A true old devil, Manson vanishes in a puff of smoke.
  • He is not a character I like at all because I think he was just an old rascal.
  • I really miss the old devil.
  • Impotent old devils and dried-up hags always deride the efforts of the young.
  • Not that he's the worst of them, poor old devil.
  • There was one old devil with red eyes.
  • Yet, in spite of everything, David Miller grew up to idolise the old rascal.
  • Am I to be troubled by a skinny old fool in mirror shades?
  • An old fool if you like.
  • But then the old fool should have been a little less unwashed and boring.
  • He was no more to her, he thought, than a tiresome old man, an old fool.
  • Look there that old fool Broom, slipped off to sleep.
  • She thought what an undecided old fool Phoebe was, but it made her outburst at the Frolic all the more courageous.
  • The old bats included a plastic, an aluminum and a wooden one.
  • But now what had happened to the old guard was happening to him, too.
  • But the old guard in the leadership sends in the tanks and introduces a new phase of vicious repression.
  • By agreeing to run, Daley gave up his Senate seat and angered some of the old guard on the South Side.
  • Meanwhile, like the Old Guard, the conventional wisdom dies but does not surrender.
  • Soon many of the old guard felt his hand upon them.
  • The trouble is that his men have done just as badly as the old guard.
  • To the old guard there is no such place.
  • Would she like to abandon the old guard, she was asked?
  • Helms is an old hand at backroom politics.
  • Blue is an old hand at such compositions and has never had any trouble with them.
  • Habitat is an old hand at changing habits of a lifetime.
  • Pete Zimmerman is an old hand at water initiatives.
  • These were old hands, and Dawn Run was effectively still a novice.
  • We are old hands in the public-school system.
  • Tax payers would have to pay health insurance premiums for the old and destitute.
► be old before your time
  • A slight drizzle appeared, just for old times' sake.
  • I just thought it might have been kinda fun, you know, for old times' sake.
  • Or even, for old times' sake, one of the left splinter parties.
  • Then one day, just for old times' sake, I paid a visit to Winston Street.
  • This was really just for old times' sake, just for fun.
  • A change of citizenship did not of course imply a divorce from the old country.
  • I remember hearing stories in my childhood about how women like that were stoned to death in the old country.
  • If Kevin wanted a root in the old country, then this, she decided, must be it.
  • In the Old Country people developed a special taste for TSHUHlnt, since it was different from ordinary cooked meals.
  • It is one of the oldest country houses in Northamptonshire.
  • Real yearning for the old country.
  • So what if Uncle Cedric escaped from the Old Country one step ahead of the law?
  • They were very religious people that come over here from the old country.
► an old head on young shoulders
  • Oh, I heard plenty of rumours, but they were nearly all based on settling old scores.
  • There was no place like the thick of battle for settling an old score.
  • With the championship having been decided, this was likely to be their last chance to settle old scores.
  • As a soldier of the old school, Eisenhower felt his responsibility was to protect the nation's security.
  • Harris was a newspaperman of the old school.
  • At such a time, with his formal dress, he looked like a diplomat of the old school.
  • He was of the old school, complete with stiff collar and bowler hat, and he was a good all-rounder.
  • He was one of the old school, not exactly sleeping under hedges, but an itinerant caddie.
  • I had to have ideas about how to sell the packages even though my business was still of the old school.
  • Oscar was from the old school.
  • The overall effect was grandfatherly-a gentleman of the old school, fusty, faintly absentminded, and deeply courteous.
  • They sweep aside the qualifications and reservations which monetarists of the old school would occasionally express.
  • This one was of the old school: giddy and flirtatious.
  • It's not true that if trees have a lot of fruit in the autumn it will be a cold winter - that's just an old wives' tale.
  • And so the old wives' tale continues.
  • I think it's an old wives' tale that make-up ruins the skin.
  • Some dismiss these as myth in the sense of old wives' tales.
  • That's only an old wives' tale.
  • The old wives' tales that have answered the pleas of fathers for centuries are mostly ineffective.
  • Whatever doctors, old wives' tales, and the Roman Catholic Church may say, human ovulation is invisible and unpredictable.
  • heroes and kings of old
► Old English/Old Icelandic etc
  • And yet nothing is like it was in the old days.
  • He was in Toksu Palace, where he had enjoyed the evening, reminiscing with attendants about the old days.
  • In the old days he could've swallowed a six-pack in half an hour and then gone out and walked a tightrope.
  • It was like the old days, and it was very moving.
  • They did what in the old days was ascribed to demons.
  • They would have ordered things differently in the old days.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
  • And a T'ang is not just any man.
  • All the other literary women he knew were old bags of whom he would be bitterly ashamed.
  • Give it to the old bag, Normy!
  • He handed Eleanor's book to a moralistic old bag he had once done a writing workshop with.
  • He was stuffing drawing and painting materials into a shabby old bag.
  • Me, an old bag of black sheep.
  • One crack or tear in them, and they would sag like an old bag of sand.
  • That would show the old bag.
  • Who was that beaten-up old bag wearing my clothes?
  • But smoking was obviously kosher as far as this old bat went.
  • I stuck some in once when we were a bit short and the old bat threatened to stop it out of my wages.
  • Most of our women in the House are frightful old bats.
  • She's a real old bat, she is.
  • The old bat led me astray in more ways than one.
  • The old bats included a plastic, an aluminum and a wooden one.
► old biddy
  • But Jim says the Minister asked for extras which added nearly £20,000 to the bill.
  • Did she suspect I had no money to pay the bill?
  • Keith Cowie's work fits the bill on all counts.
  • Lawmakers initially had been scheduled to vote on the bill Friday, but postponed the balloting for lack of sufficient votes.
  • The education measure disturbed Bryant enough that he voted against the bill in its final form.
  • The strength of the argument for splitting the bill is evident in the reaction of the two Republican senators from Texas.
  • There was strong opposition in Washington to the many generous provisions of the bill.
  • They were standing at the desk by now and the girl was working on the bill.
  • I hadn't noticed what a weird old bird Ned was, either.
  • Just so. Funny old bird.
► old boy/my dear boy► an old chestnut
  • "That daughter of yours has a great sense of humour." "Yes, I like to think she's a chip off the old block!"
► old Uncle Tom Cobbleigh and all► old codger
  • He's a crazy old coot.
  • And by the way, old coot, cough up $ 200 for our trouble.
  • She thought Mrs Magendanz had seen the old coot staggering around the house and screaming abuse at her.
  • Taking off your clothes for an old coot like him?
  • We had the tar right there, just throw the old coot ill and cook him and use him for fill.
  • He was a dear old gentleman who was very kind to me.
  • Just like my ball club in Saint Louis, my dear old chums the Cardinals.
  • So the evil monster had brought unhappiness and death to a dear old man who had never hurt anybody.
  • That's a hundred more than dear old David Beckham gets from his Ferrari 550.
  • The Republicans, like Chambers, soon decided they wanted to go back to dear old Nixie.
  • You had to talk to those dear old folk at the Empress and I don't blame you.
  • One old dear was doing her knitting.
  • Or perhaps the two old dears together.
  • The poor old dear has been having a hard time of late.
  • They were two old dears and good fun, but this one... well!
  • This week one old dear ignored her relatives and left £25,000 to her tortoise.
  • We were having tea at the same hotel when Mrs Harvey came in, with another old dear.
  • A true old devil, Manson vanishes in a puff of smoke.
  • I really miss the old devil.
  • Impotent old devils and dried-up hags always deride the efforts of the young.
  • Indeed, I worship the little devil, but only as a travelling companion.
  • Not that he's the worst of them, poor old devil.
  • So much, thought Blanche, for flirting with the lascivious old devil.
  • There was one old devil with red eyes.
  • But old habits die hard, and Apple has shown a proclivity to chase market share while hand-wringing over shrinking gross margins.
  • It was probably unnecessary, she thought, but old habits died hard.
  • Perhaps because it's an island old customs die hard here.
  • Things were going well, but old habits die hard.
  • This is an area where old customs die hard.
  • Soho, meanwhile, enthuse and make me feel like a miserable old fart.
  • The old fart had served his purpose.
  • And a word of advice just you be careful of that old goat, Moreton.
  • As well as taking kids, eagles also try to flush or knock older goats off ledges.
  • She pushed open the door into the old goat shed.
  • What's the old goat on about anyway?
  • Going to a movie only cost a five cents in the good old days.
  • A full-tilt throwback to the good old days of Tres Hombres and Fandango.
  • But those were the good old days.
  • For the weapons scientists, the good old days are over.
  • Gone from our ken the iron horse, Those were the good old days ... of course.
  • In the good old days of rampant dualism, the mind was rarely mentioned in polite society.
  • In the good old days you had lots of career men.
  • Switch on your television set these days and you can bask in the warmth of the good old days.
  • This isn t a wild club night in the good old days of Ibiza.
► good old John/Karen etc
  • But even at the grand old age of 28, he was keen to give it a go.
  • In 1989 the Society reached the grand old age of 100 years.
  • The house, despite its grand old age, is welcoming and comfortable.
  • the old guard of the Communist Party
  • But now what had happened to the old guard was happening to him, too.
  • But the old guard in the leadership sends in the tanks and introduces a new phase of vicious repression.
  • By agreeing to run, Daley gave up his Senate seat and angered some of the old guard on the South Side.
  • Meanwhile, like the Old Guard, the conventional wisdom dies but does not surrender.
  • Soon many of the old guard felt his hand upon them.
  • The trouble is that his men have done just as badly as the old guard.
  • To the old guard there is no such place.
  • Would she like to abandon the old guard, she was asked?
  • But old habits die hard, and Apple has shown a proclivity to chase market share while hand-wringing over shrinking gross margins.
  • It was probably unnecessary, she thought, but old habits died hard.
  • Things were going well, but old habits die hard.
► give someone the (old) heave-ho► lead somebody a merry old dance/a right old dance► there’s life in the old dog yet► as old as Methuselah► miles older/better/too difficult etc
  • It was money for old rope.
  • That to Sergeant Joe was money for old rope.
► the old-boy network
  • But propaganda that all old-growth forests are being hacked down willy-nilly is nonsense.
  • Like the northern spotted owl, the tiny bird is dependent on old-growth forests.
  • The floors of old-growth forests tend to be fairly sterile because overhead canopies of leaves prevent light from reaching the ground.
  • The report has been welcomed by many legislators as the most authoritative and independent assessment of the old-growth timber industry ever prepared.
► somebody’s old lady► the old school tie► somebody’s old woman
  • To see Lascaux is to recognize that the oldest profession may very well be artist.
  • Tomming is the oldest profession in the world.
► rake over the past/old coals
  • Angie was the orchestra's soloist at the ripe old age of 22.
  • Da Ponte lived to the ripe old age of 89.
  • At the ripe old age of 28 he says he can no longer bear the rigours of the game.
  • Ex-wife Alana demonstrates that she's still out in front in the glamour stakes at the ripe old age of 43.
  • Inpart this reflects increasing expenditure on state pensions as more and more people live to a ripe old age.
  • It was not until they levelled out that she thought again about the possibility of living to a ripe old age.
  • Or I could make serious, long-term changes and hope to live to a ripe old age.
  • So it seemed Meurent lived to a ripe old age.
  • There's no escape from that if you want to live to a ripe old age.
  • Tom had not reached the ripe old age of twenty-nine without discovering quite a few of them.
► same old same old
  • For those who claimed to have seen or heard it all before, racism was always the same old story.
  • It's always the same old story.
  • It seems to be the same old story.
  • Oh, you know - it's the same old story.
  • Sounds like the same old story really.
  • At such a time, with his formal dress, he looked like a diplomat of the old school.
  • He was of the old school, complete with stiff collar and bowler hat, and he was a good all-rounder.
  • He was one of the old school, not exactly sleeping under hedges, but an itinerant caddie.
  • I had to have ideas about how to sell the packages even though my business was still of the old school.
  • Oscar was from the old school.
  • The overall effect was grandfatherly-a gentleman of the old school, fusty, faintly absentminded, and deeply courteous.
  • They sweep aside the qualifications and reservations which monetarists of the old school would occasionally express.
► the old school tie
  • She doesn ` t want to end up an old soak.
  • The father's nice enough, but a bit of an old soak and the grandmother was a dragon.
  • It's the same old story - too much work and not enough time.
► you can’t teach an old dog new tricks► somebody is up to their (old) tricks
  • And she hadn't said when the disagreeable old trout was going to walk.
  • Consequently, as older trout die they are not replaced and in time the trout population disappears.
  • She had insisted on coming with me to refresh, so she said, her memory of that ghastly old trout.
  • Seeing my ex-boyfriend opened some old wounds.
  • In her innocent curiosity, Cissie had opened old wounds.
  • Whatever the outcome, Marcos's death has opened old wounds.
1not new something that is old has existed or been used for a long time OPP  new:  a pair of old shoes Some of the houses around here are very old. one of our oldest traditions The car’s getting old now, and things are starting to go wrong with it. That story’s as old as the hills (=extremely old).2not young a)someone who is old has lived for a very long time OPP  young:  an old man a home for old peopleget/grow old I can’t run around like I used to – I must be getting old. b)the old [plural] people who are old:  the care of the old and sick3age used to talk about how long a person or thing has lived or existedfive/ten/fifty etc years old I can’t believe you’re nearly forty years old! a house that’s 300 years old How old are you? Are you older than Sally? You’re old enough to get your own breakfast now. I’m not coming skating. I’m too old for that now.five-year-old/ten-year-old etc somebody/something a six-week-old baby a 500-year-old swordsomebody is old enough to know better (=used to say that you think someone should behave more sensibly)somebody is old enough to be his/her/your mother/father (=used to say that someone is too old to be having a sexual relationship with someone else)4that you used to have [only before noun] your old house, job, girlfriend etc is one that you used to have SYN  former:  I met up with one of my old girlfriends at the weekend. My old car was always breaking down. That happened when we were still in the old house. My old boss was awful!old flame (=someone with whom you used to have a romantic relationship)► see thesaurus at last5familiar [only before noun] old things are things that are familiar to you because you have seen them or experienced them many times before:  It’s good to get back into the old routine. I enjoyed seeing all the old familiar faces. He comes out with the same old excuses every time! → it’s the same old story at story(9)6very well known [only before noun] an old friend, enemy etc is someone you have known for a long time:  Bob’s an old friend of mine. an old colleague They’re old rivals.7the old days times in the pastin the old days In the old days people used to fetch water from the pump.8the good old days/the bad old days an earlier time in your life, or in history, when things seemed better or worse than now:  We like to chat about the good old days.9be/feel/look like your old self to feel or look better again after you have been ill or very unhappy:  It’s good to see you looking more like your old self again.10any old thing/place/time etc spoken used to say that it does not matter which thing, place etc you choose:  Oh, just wear any old thing. Phone any old time – I’m always here.11any old how/way spoken in an untidy or careless way:  The papers had been dumped on my desk any old how.12good/poor/silly old etc somebody spoken used to talk about someone you like:  Good old Keith! You poor old thing!13a good old something (also a right old something British English) spoken used to talk about something you enjoy:  We had a good old talk.14old devil/rascal etc spoken used to talk about someone you like and admire:  You old devil! You were planning this all along!15old fool/bastard/bat etc spoken not polite used to talk very rudely about someone you do not like: · the stupid old cow16the old guard a group of people within an organization or club who do not like changes or new ideas:  He’ll never manage to persuade the old guard.17be an old hand (at something) to have a lot of experience of something:  I’m an old hand at this game.18be old before your time to look or behave like someone much older than you, especially because of difficulties in your life19for old times’ sake if you do something for old times’ sake, you do it to remind yourself of a happy time in the past20the old country especially American English the country that you were born in, but that you no longer live in, used especially to mean Europe21an old head on young shoulders British English a young person who seems to think and behave like an older person22pay/settle an old score to punish someone for something wrong that they did to you in the past23of/from the old school old-fashioned and believing in old ideas and customs:  a doctor of the old school24old wives’ tale a belief based on old ideas that are now considered to be untrue25of old literary from a long time ago in the past:  the knights of old26Old English/Old Icelandic etc an early form of English, Icelandic etcGRAMMAR: Order of adjectivesIf there is more than one adjective, the adjectives are usually used in a fixed order.You say: · There are some nice old houses. ✗Don’t say: There are some old nice houses.You say: · She was dressed in old black clothes. ✗Don’t say: She was dressed in black old clothes.Grammar guide ‒ ADJECTIVESCOLLOCATIONS– Meaning 3phrasesbe 5/10/50 etc years old· My dad is 45 years old.a five-year-old/fifteen-year-old etc somebody/something· a three-year-old boyhow old is …?· ‘How old is your daughter?’ ‘She’s ten.’be too old for something· He was too old for military service.be old enough to do something· You’re old enough to help with the cooking.somebody is old enough to know better (=used when you think someone should behave more sensibly)· He’s old enough to know better, but he went and did it anyway!somebody is old enough to be somebody’s mother/father (=used when you think that someone is much too old to be having a relationship with another person)· Why would she want to go out with someone who was old enough to be her father?THESAURUSpersonold having lived for a long time: · an old man· I’m too old to learn a new language.elderly a polite word for old: · an elderly lady· a home for the elderly (=elderly people)· If you are elderly, you may be eligible for financial assistance.aging (also ageing British English) [only before noun] becoming old: · an ageing rock star· the problems of an ageing populationaged /ˈeɪdʒəd/ [only before noun] written aged relatives are very old: · aged parents· She had to look after her aged aunt.elder brother/sister especially British English [only before noun] an older brother or sister. Elder sounds more formal than older: · I have two elder brothers.ancient [not usually before noun] informal very old – used humorously: · I’ll be 30 next year – it sounds really ancient!be getting on (in years) informal to be fairly old: · He’s 60 now, so he’s getting on a bit.be over the hill (also be past it British English) informal to be too old to do something: · Everyone thinks you’re past it when you get to 40.geriatric [only before noun] relating to medical care and treatment for old people: · a geriatric hospital· geriatric patientsthingold: · an old car· an old Chinese sayingancient very old – used about things that existed thousands of years ago, or things that look very old: · ancient civilisations· an ancient Rolls Royceantique antique furniture, clocks, jewellery etc are old and often valuable: · an antique writing deskage-old used about traditions, problems, or situations that have existed for a very long time: · the age-old tradition of morris dancing· the age-old prejudice against women in positions of power· the age-old problem of nationalism· age-old hatreds between religious groups
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