Elder
['eldə] or ['ɛldɚ]
Definition
(noun.) a person who is older than you are.
(noun.) any of various church officers.
(noun.) any of numerous shrubs or small trees of temperate and subtropical northern hemisphere having white flowers and berrylike fruit.
(adj.) used of the older of two persons of the same name especially used to distinguish a father from his son; 'Bill Adams, Sr.' .
Typed by Hector--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Older; more aged, or existing longer.
(a.) Born before another; prior in years; senior; earlier; older; as, his elder brother died in infancy; -- opposed to younger, and now commonly applied to a son, daughter, child, brother, etc.
(a.) One who is older; a superior in age; a senior.
(a.) An aged person; one who lived at an earlier period; a predecessor.
(a.) A person who, on account of his age, occupies the office of ruler or judge; hence, a person occupying any office appropriate to such as have the experience and dignity which age confers; as, the elders of Israel; the elders of the synagogue; the elders in the apostolic church.
(a.) A clergyman authorized to administer all the sacraments; as, a traveling elder.
(n.) A genus of shrubs (Sambucus) having broad umbels of white flowers, and small black or red berries.
Typist: Trevor
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. Older, senior.
n. Senior, aged person.
Typed by Duane
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Senior, father
ANT:Junior, son
Typist: Winfred
Definition
adj. older: having lived a longer time: prior in origin.—n. one who is older: an ancestor: one advanced to office on account of age: one of a class of office-bearers in the Presbyterian Church—equivalent to the presbyters of the New Testament.—n. Eld′erliness.—adj. Eld′erly somewhat old: bordering on old age.—n. Eld′ership state of being older: the office of an elder.—adj. Eld′est oldest.
n. a genus of plants consisting chiefly of shrubs and trees with pinnate leaves small flowers (of which the corolla is wheel-shaped and five-cleft) and three-seeded berries—the Common Elder is the Scotch Bourtree.—ns. Eld′er-berr′y the acidulous purple-black drupaceous fruit of the elder; Eld′er-gun a popgun made of elder-wood by extracting the pith; Eld′er-wine a pleasant wine made from elder-berries.—Elder-flower water distilled water with an agreeable odour made from the flowers.
Checker: Roderick
Examples
- He gets worse instead of better, I think,' said the elder lady. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- And besides, look at elder-flowers and bluebells--they are a sign that pure creation takes place--even the butterfly. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Really, girls, you are both to be blamed, said Meg, beginning to lecture in her elder-sisterly fashion. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- My dear George, returns the elder, concentrating his strong steady brow upon him and smiling confidently, leave that to me, and let me try. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- And they both groaned at the atrocious conduct of the elder Mr. Weller. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- Kitty, to her very material advantage, spent the chief of her time with her two elder sisters. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- Mr. Sam Wynne coming up with great haste, to insist on the elder girls joining in the game as well as the younger ones, Caroline was again left alone. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- It was the elder who replied, 'Since about this hour last night. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- She loved him as a kind elder brother; a relation to guide, protect, and instruct her, without the too frequent tyranny of parental authority. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- Willoughby took his usual place between the two elder Miss Dashwoods. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- Queer, Sammy, queer,' replied the elder Mr. Weller, with impressive gravity. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- The elder De Candolle has made nearly similar observations on the general nature of the affinities of distinct families of plants. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- Mr Pancks was then hospitably pressed into Happy Cottage, where he encountered the elder Master Plornish just come home from school. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- The spirit of elder days found a dwelling here, and we delighted to trace its footsteps. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- It was, indeed, a pathetic sight to see a father venerate his son as the elder Edison did. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- With the growth of civilization, the gap between the original capacities of the immature and the standards and customs of the elders increases. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- The young would imitate their elders in this task. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- It was, therefore, a different thing in its origins from the nobility of the early Aryans, which was a republican nobility of elders and leading men. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- These were crimes his elders fretted over among themselves and proposed to punish when the opportunity should offer. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands? H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- A young man for whom two such elders had devoted themselves would indeed be culpable if he threw himself away and made their sacrifices vain. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- I had half a mind to bend over the elders' shoulders, and answer their goodness with the thanks of my eyes. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Ned, Frank, and the little girls joined in this, and while it went on, the three elders sat apart, talking. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- For the first few days, I had no choice but to give way to my elders and betters; the patient steadily sinking all the time. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Both elders pay you homage. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- They were sent up by the minor gentry, freeholders and village elders of their districts as early as 1254, two knights from each shire. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The young men in the towns began to be Europeanized to the great dismay of their elders. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Veneering and other elders of tribes commended this way out of it. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Let 'em wait, as their elders have done before 'em. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
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