old
/əʊld
/adjective (older, oldest)
1Having lived for a long time; no longer young: the old man lay propped up on cushions...See also elder1, eldest.
- The majority of those left behind are too young, old or sick to travel far.
- The setting for the film is a beautiful temple on a secluded lake where an old monk and his young charge live.
- Now we want all residents, young and old, to select a project in their neighbourhood and make a local improvement.
Synonyms
elderly, mature, aged, older, senior, advanced in years, up in years, getting on;
in one's dotage, long in the tooth, grey, grey-haired, grey-bearded, grizzled, hoary;
past one's prime, not as young as one was, ancient, decrepit, doddering, doddery, not long for this world, ripe, senescent, senile, superannuated, venerable, septuagenarian, octogenarian, nonagenarian, centenarian
informal past it, over the hill, no spring chicken
rare longevous
1.1Made or built long ago: the old quarter of the town...
- It's built out of an old palace which has some of the most beautiful Buddhist art I've ever seen.
- The new gravel road has been built parallel to the old tarmac Gun Park Road
- Hidden in a narrow alley of the old quarter of Nice, one discovered it by chance or word-of-mouth.
Synonyms
historic, antiquated;
dilapidated, broken-down, run down, tumbledown, ramshackle, decaying, crumbling, disintegrating
1.2Possessed or used for a long time: he gave his old clothes away...
- A number of houses have been given a box to collect glass, cans and old clothes
- All artwork created by the kids can be taken home that day and children are advised to wear old clothes.
- I wear moonboots from the boutique; a hut where you drop off old clothes and pick up whatever you need.
Synonyms
worn, worn out, shabby, threadbare, holey, torn, frayed, patched, tattered, moth-eaten, ragged, yellowed;
old-fashioned, out of date, outmoded;
cast-off, hand-me-down;
French démodé
informal tatty
antique, veteran, vintage
1.3 informal, chiefly US Boring or tiresome, especially as a result of repetition or overfamiliarity: I wish she’d shut up—it’s getting old...
- There are a few humorous moments among the outtakes, though otherwise they get old pretty quickly.
- The studios keep making this genre of film, and people still go and see them, but they're getting old fast.
- Does the "nerd" thing ever get old?
2 [attributive] Belonging to the past; former: valuation under the old rating system was inexact...
- I got to know a little bit about it, at least the old Berlin of the past, through Benjamin's eyes.
- One of its campaigns is an attack on asylum seekers, which recycles a old leaflet used in past BNP campaigns.
- Today's feelings were sparked by me walking past my old primary school yesterday for the first time in ages.
2.1Used to refer to a thing which has been replaced by something similar: we moved back into our old house...
- Now Volvo has taken the concept even further with the launch of a stunning new V70 estate to replace the old model.
- Before the wedding the kitchen was renovated and an electric stove was put in to replace the old coal range.
- Fred was sitting close by, working on replacing old laces with fresh ones on greenhide pack bags.
Synonyms
former, previous, ex-, one-time, sometime, erstwhile, once, then, lapsed
formal quondam
2.2Dating from far back; long-established or known: we greeted each other like old friends I get sick of the same old routine...
- How many times do we need to see the same old arguments made and the same sources quoted?
- These aren't the same old depressing allegations, no, this time the allegations are red hot!
- You can resolve the same old problem with a new approach and make a breakthrough.
Synonyms
hackneyed, hack, banal, trite, overused, overworked, cut and dried, tired, worn out, time-worn, stale, stereotyped, clichéd, platitudinous, unoriginal, derivative, unimaginative, commonplace, common, pedestrian, prosaic, run-of-the-mill, stock, conventional;
out of date, outdated, old-fashioned, outmoded, archaic, obsolete, defunct, extinct, antiquated, antediluvian, superannuated, hoary;
French passé
informal old hat, out of the ark, corny, fuddy-duddy, played out, hacky
time-honoured, old-time, long-established, age-old, long-standing, long-lived, enduring, lasting;
familiar, customary, conventional, established, ritual, ritualistic, habitual, set, fixed, routine, usual, wonted, historic, folk, old-world, ancestral
2.3Denoting someone who formerly attended a specified school: an old Etonian...
- Maybe old Etonian James will bring his father round to seeing the value of theatre that is radical, critical, foul-mouthed and rude.
- George Bullough, a 6ft 5in old Harrovian, had become the company's principal shareholder on the death in 1891 of his father.
- Three Old Carthusians have won the Victoria Cross.
2.4(Of a form of a language) as used in former or earliest times.This describes perfectly his career as a philologist and his passion for old languages....
- There are 114 chapters in the Qur'an, which is written in the old Arabic dialect.
- They are given in the book in the form of old Irish writing, new Irish writing and English.
3 [in combination] Of a specified age: he was fourteen years old a seven-month-old baby
3.1 [as noun, in combination] A person or animal of the age specified: a nineteen-year-old
4 [attributive] informal Used to express affection, familiarity, or contempt: good old Mum I didn’t like playing with silly old dolls...
- I really fancy my guests having a right good old toast to my memory.
- Get rid of the new-labour new-tory dictatorships and let's have good old democracy back again!
- So, for this event, I cooked from just regular vegetables and good old ingredients.
Phrases
any old
any old how
as old as the hills
be old enough to be someone's father (or mother)
for old times' sake
of old
the old days
the Old Firm
you can't put an old head on young shoulders
Derivatives
oldish
/ adjective ...- An oldish couple approached the crossing as I was aiming my camera.
- You can see the Assistant website here, listen to some oldish but goodish demos here, and find out about the next gig here, too, when we know about it.
- It's an oldish building, but it's nice, fairly weathertight, and fits my needs.
oldness
- At 103 years of age, though, Mr. Murray described him as frail by oldness.
- His opponents on the ultra-left demand we save our party from newness and demand a return to an oldness that never really existed anyway.
- I just like the atmosphere inside churches, and the oldness of them.
Origin
Old English ald, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch oud and German alt, from an Indo-European root meaning 'adult', shared by Latin alere 'nourish'.
This word shares an ancient root with Latin alere ‘to nourish’, which links it with alimony. The old boy network providing mutual assistance (and often career advancement) among people from the same social and educational background goes back to the 1950s. Members of such a group might well refer to ideas of group loyalty and tradition in terms of the old school tie—values seen as associated with wearing the tie of a particular public school. The first writers to use this phrase were those astute social commentators Rudyard Kipling and George Orwell in the 1930s. An old wives' tale is a widely held traditional belief now thought to be unscientific or incorrect. This phrase, with its earlier variant an old wives' fable, has been part of the language since the 16th century. It is first found in William Tyndale's translation of the Bible, where the faithful are instructed to ‘cast away’ such stories. Some behaviour becomes inappropriate as you get older, and there is a risk for some of being considered a dirty old man. First recorded in the 1930s, the phrase was Harold Steptoe's familiar rebuke to his father in the TV comedy Steptoe and Son (1962–74).