old agedadj.n.
/əʊld ˈeɪdʒd/, U.S. /ˈoʊld ˈeɪdʒd/ Now rare.
Of old age; elderly; ancient. Also as n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > source or principle of life > age > old age > [adjective] > old (of beings, etc.)
oldeOE
winteredeOE
oldlyOE
over-oldOE
eldernc1175
at-oldc1200
stricken on, in age, in eldec1380
oldlya1382
(well, far, etc.) stepped in age, in or into yearsc1386
ancientc1400
aged1420
well-agedc1450
ripec1480
passing oldc1485
(well) shot in years1530
old aged1535
agey1547
Ogygian1567
strucken1576
oldish1580
stricken in yearsa1586
declined1591
far1591
struck1597
Nestorian1605
overripe1605
elderly1611
eld1619
antiquated1631
enaged1631
thorough-old1639
emerita1643
grandevous1647
magnaevous1727
badgerly1753
(as) old as the hills1819
olden days1823
crusted1833
long in the tooth1841
oldened1854
mature1867
over the hill1950
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Dan. vii. 9 I loked till the seates were prepared, and till the olde aged sat him downe.
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Apol. Poetrie (1595) sig. D2 Olde-aged experience, goeth beyond the fine-witted Phylosopher.
1617 R. Brathwait Chavcers Incensed Ghost 2 in tr. ‘B. Multibibus’ Solemne Ioviall Disputation Old-aged Chaucer having long retir'd, Now to revisit Earth at last desir'd.
1673 B. Keach War with Devil 55 They think to live till they Old-aged are, 'Cause their Progenitors long-lived were.
1874 T. Hardy Far from Madding Crowd (ed. 2) I. viii. 107 ‘Ye be a very old-aged person, maltster,’ attested Jan Coggan, also soothingly.
1996 Ecology 77 1226 Old-aged peat produced by tundra spruces is additional evidence for the stability of the forest limit.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1535