old | ||
1. | [ adjective ] (used especially of persons) having lived for a relatively long time or attained a specific age; especially not young | |
Examples: | "a ripe old age" "how old are you?" often used as a combining form to indicate an age as specified as in "a week-old infant" |
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Related terms: | young aged gray gray ancient aged middle-aged middle-aged doddering emeritus venerable oldish darkened centenarian over-the-hill overage retired sexagenarian aging anile octogenarian nonagenarian experienced senior mature age | |
2. | [ adjective ] of long duration; not new | |
Examples: | "old tradition" "old house" "old wine" "old country" "old friendships" "old money" |
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Related terms: | new age-old antique yellow patched secondhand sunset cold hand-me-down antediluvian immemorial hoary longtime long-ago auld past worn stale noncurrent nonmodern age | |
3. | [ adjective ] of an earlier time | |
Examples: | "his old classmates" |
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Related terms: | past | |
4. | [ adjective ] (used for emphasis) very familiar | |
Examples: | "good old boy" "same old story" |
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Related terms: | familiar | |
5. | [ adjective ] lacking originality or spontaneity; no longer new | |
Synonyms: | moth-eaten stale | |
Examples: | "moth-eaten theories about race" |
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Related terms: | unoriginal | |
6. | [ adjective ] (linguistics) of a very early stage in development | |
Examples: | "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" |
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Related terms: | linguistics early | |
7. | [ adjective ] old in experience | |
Synonyms: | older | |
Examples: | "an old offender" "the older soldiers" |
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Related terms: | experienced | |
8. | [ adjective ] used informally especially for emphasis | |
Synonyms: | sure-enough honest-to-goodness honest-to-god | |
Examples: | "a real honest-to-god live cowboy" "had us a high old time" "went upriver to look at a sure-enough fish wheel" |
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Related terms: | genuine | |
9. | [ adjective ] just preceding something else in time or order | |
Synonyms: | previous | |
Examples: | "the previous owner" "my old house was larger" |
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Related terms: | preceding | |
10. | [ noun ] Last name, frequency rank in the U.S. is 12553 | |
11. | [ adjective ] used informally especially for emphasis | |
Synonyms: | sure-enough honest-to-goodness honest-to-god | |
Examples: | "a real honest-to-god live cowboy" "had us a high old time" "went upriver to look at a sure-enough fish wheel" |
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Related terms: | genuine | |
12. | [ noun ] past times (especially in the phrase "in days of old") | |
Related terms: | past | |
Similar spelling: |
oldie Oleta |