old | |
1. adj. Of an object, concept, relationship, etc., having existed for a relatively long period of time. | |
an old abandoned building; an old friend | |
2. adj. Of a living being, having lived for most of the expected years. | |
a wrinkled old man | |
3. adj. Of a perishable item, having existed for most, or more than its shelf life. | |
an old loaf of bread | |
4. adj. Of an item that has been used and so is not new (unused). | |
I find that an old toothbrush is good to clean the keyboard with. | |
5. adj. Having existed or lived for the specified time. | |
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. | |
My great-grandfather lived to be a hundred and one years old. | |
6. adj. Of an earlier time.: | |
7. adj. Former, previous. | |
My new car is not as good as my old one. a school reunion for Old Etonians | |
8. adj. That is no longer in existence. | |
The footpath follows the route of an old railway line. | |
9. adj. Obsolete; out-of-date. | |
That is the old way of doing things; now we do it this way. | |
10. adj. Familiar. | |
When he got drunk and quarrelsome they just gave him the old heave-ho. | |
11. adj. Tiresome. | |
Your constant pestering is getting old. | |
12. adj. Said of subdued colors, particularly reds, pinks and oranges, as if they had faded over time. | |
13. adj. A grammatical intensifier, often used in describing something positive. (Mostly in idioms like good old, big old and little old, any old and some old.) | |
We're having a good old time. My next car will be a big old SUV. My wife makes the best little old apple pie in Texas. | |
14. adj. (obsolete) Excessive, abundant. | |
15. s. (with "the") People who are old; old beings; the older generation, taken as a group. | |
A civilised society should always look after the old in the community. | |