old

Plural: olds

Noun

An individual of a specified or advanced age.
past times (especially in the phrase `in days of old')
People who are old; old beings; the older generation, taken as a group.
A person older than oneself, especially an adult in relation to a teenager.
One's parents.
A typically dark-coloured lager brewed by the traditional top-fermentation method.

Adjective

Having existed for a long time; of advanced age.
(used especially of persons) having lived for a relatively long time or attained a specific age
- "his mother is very old"
- "a ripe old age"
- "how old are you?"
of long duration; not new
- "old tradition"
- "old house"
- "old wine"
- "old country"
- "old friendships"
- "old money"

Adjective Satellite

(used for emphasis) very familiar
- "good old boy"
- "same old story"
skilled through long experience
- "an old offender"
- "the older soldiers"
belonging to some prior time
(used informally especially for emphasis)
- "had us a high old time"
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"
just preceding something else in time or order
- "my old house was larger"

Adj

Of an object, concept, relationship, etc., having existed for a relatively long period of time.
Of an object, concept, relationship, etc., having existed for a relatively long period of time.
Of a living being, having lived for most of the expected years.
Of an object, concept, relationship, etc., having existed for a relatively long period of time.
Of a perishable item, having existed for most of, or more than, its shelf life.
Of an object, concept, relationship, etc., having existed for a relatively long period of time.
Of a species or language, belonging to a lineage that is distantly related to others.
Having been used and thus no longer new or unused.
Having existed or lived for the specified time.
Of an earlier time.
Former, previous.
Of an earlier time.
That is no longer in existence.
Of an earlier time.
Obsolete; out-of-date.
Of an earlier time.
Familiar.
Of an earlier time.
Being a graduate or alumnus of a school, especially a public school.
Tiresome after prolonged repetition.
Said of subdued colors, particularly reds, pinks and oranges, as if they had faded over time.
A grammatical intensifier, often used in describing something positive, and combined with another adjective.
Indicating affection and familiarity.
Designed for a mature audience; unsuitable for children below a certain age.
Excessive, abundant.

Examples

A civilised society should always look after the old in the community.
a wrinkled old man
an old abandoned building
an old friend
an old loaf of bread
any old
Basque is the oldest language in Europe
How old are they? She’s five years old and he's seven. We also have a young teen and a two-year-old child.
I find that an old toothbrush is good to clean the keyboard with.
I had to sneak out to meet my girlfriend and tell the olds I was going to the library.
I'm not letting an old wreck my good time today.
I'm not letting any olds wreck my good time today.
My great-grandfather lived to be a hundred and one years old.
My new car is not as good as my old one. a school reunion for Old Etonians
My next car will be a big old SUV.
My wife makes the best little old apple pie in Texas.
Some players prefer OLD, classic strategies over new, aggressive ones in Scrabble.
That is the old way of doing things; now we do it this way.
The footpath follows the route of an old railway line.
the ginkgo is one of the oldest living trees
The OLD of the group often shared wisdom about obscure words and tactics.
We're having a good old time.
When he got drunk and quarrelsome they just gave him the old heave-ho.
Your constant pestering is getting old.

Origin / Etymology

Inherited from Middle English old, oold, from Old English ald, eald (“old, aged, ancient, antique, primeval”), from Proto-West Germanic *ald, from Proto-Germanic *aldaz (“grown-up”), originally a participle form, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eltós (“grown, tall, big”). Cognate with Scots auld (“old”), North Frisian ual, ool, üülj (“old”), Saterland Frisian oold (“old”), West Frisian âld (“old”), Dutch oud (“old”), German alt (“old”), Low German old (“old”), Luxembourgish al (“old”), Vilamovian aołd (“old”), Icelandic eldri (“older, elder”), Swedish äldre (“older, elder”), Latin altus (“high, tall, grown big, lofty”). Related to eld.

Synonyms

erstwhile, former, honest-to-god, honest-to-goodness, older, one-time, onetime, previous, quondam, sometime, sure-enough, age-old, aged, ageing, aging, ancient, antediluvian, antiquated, antique, auld, cobwebbed, cobwebby, decrepit, eld, elderly, eldern, ex-, gray, hoary, long in the tooth, moss-grown, obsolete, of age, ol', old, old as the Pyramids, old as the hills, olden, older than dirt, older than the Pyramids, older than the hills, on in years, outdated, paleo-, past, venerable, wintry

Antonyms

new, young, brand new, ceno-, current, fresh, latest, neo-, new-fangled, nubile

Scrabble Score: 4

old: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
old: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
old: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 5

old: valid Words With Friends Word