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old
has definitions from the field of linguistics
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[ 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" Used in print (The Sun, [Baltimore],...)The big , 22 - year old shortstop , the 1960 American_league `` rookie of the year '' , flew here late this afternoon from Baltimore , signed his contract for an estimated $ 15000 and was a spectator at tonight 's 5 - to 3 loss to Kansas_City - the winless Birds ' sixth setback in_a_row . Twenty-one year old Milt_Pappas and Jerry_Walker , 22 , are scheduled to share the Oriole mound chores against the Bombers ' Art_Ditmar in Sunday 's 2 P.M. encounter . The 22 - year old southpaw enlisted earlier last fall than did Hansen . Gaining her second straight victory , Norman_B._Small_,_Jr. 's Garden_Fresh , a 3 - year old filly , downed promising colts in the $ 4500 St._Patrick's_Day_Purse , featured seventh race here today , and paid $ 7.20 straight . The crowd at the twenty-first annual K._of_C._Games , final indoor meet of the season , got a thrill a_few minutes earlier when a slender , bespectacled woman broke the one week old world_record in the half-mile run . |
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[ adjective ] of long duration; not new
Examples "old tradition" "old house" "old wine" "old country" "old friendships" "old money" Used in print (The Atlanta Constitution...)The department apparently intends to make the Rural_Roads_Authority a revolving_fund under which new bonds would be issued every time a portion of the old ones are paid_off by tax authorities . (The New York Times,...)He was the lawyer for Ted_Collins ' old Boston_Yankees in the National_Football_League . (The Times-Picayune, [New Orleans]...)It is not as convenient as the old type toothbrush and the paste tends to shimmy of the bristles . There 's more reading and instruction to be heard on discs than ever before , although the spoken rather_than the sung word is as old as Thomas_Alva_Edison 's first experiment in recorded sound . If he can't play with Mommy 's magazines , he should have some old numbers of his own . |
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[ adjective ] of an earlier time
Examples "his old classmates" Used in print (Musical America, LXXXI:5...)Meager and shabby by-products linger to haunt our memories of a once mighty protagonist ; a maladroit reharmonization of our National_Anthem ( The Star-Spangled_Banner ) ; a poor attempt to write an idiomatic jazz concerto ; a circus polka for elephants ; his hopes that the tunes from his old music might be used for popular American commercial songs ! ([Anonymous,] "The Attack on Employee Services"...)How old is your working force ? (Harold Rosenberg, "The Trial and Eichmann"...)In each of the last , the trial marked the beginning of a new course : in Moscow the liquidation of the Old Bolsheviks and the tightening of Stalin 's dictatorship ; in the United_States the initiation of militant anti Communism , with the repentant ex Communist in the vanguard . (Helen Hooven Santmyer, "There Were Fences"...)There were fences in the old days when we were children . (Randall Stewart, "A Little History, a Little Honesty: A...)But I suspect that the old Roman was referring to change made under military occupation - the sort of change which Tacitus was talking_about when he said , `` They make a desert , and call it peace '' ( `` Solitudinem faciunt , pacem appellant '' . ) Related terms |
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[ adjective ] (used for emphasis) very familiar
Examples "good old boy" "same old story" Used in print (Breni James, Nights of the Kill....)Gun told himself that the old bastard was a fool . (Edwin Booth, Outlaw Town....)Even Black 's old crowbait began to snort , and from the house Black yelled , `` Jess ! (Ralph J. Salisbury, "On the Old Santa Fe Trail...)Suddenly a treble auto horn tootley-toot-tootled , and , thumbing hopefully , I saw emergent in windshield flash : red lips , streaming silk of blonde hair and - ah , trembling confusion of hope , apprehension , despair - the leering face of old Herry . Maybe I would beat old Herry to Siberia after_all . Related terms |
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[ adjective ] lacking originality or spontaneity; no longer new
Synonyms Examples "moth-eaten theories about race" Used in print (Musical America, LXXXI:5...)This is precisely what makes lucid , straightforward music so difficult to compose - the clarity must be new , not old '' . `` the clarity must be new , not old '' . (Donald J. Plantz, Sweeney Squadron....)The same old question . (Jay Williams, The Forger....)In_the_end , I did the same old picture , the naked girl and the guy in the doorway , only I put a Lord_Byron shirt on the guy , gave him a sword instead of a pistol , and painted in furniture from the stills of a costume movie . Related terms |
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[ 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" Related terms |
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[ adjective ] old in experience
Synonyms Examples "an old offender" "the older soldiers" Related terms |
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[ adjective ] used informally especially for emphasis
Synonyms Examples "a real honest-to-god live cowboy" "had us a high old time" "went upriver to look at a sure-enough fish wheel" Related terms |
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[ noun ] Last name, frequency rank in the U.S. is 12553
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[ adjective ] used informally especially for emphasis
Synonyms Examples "a real honest-to-god live cowboy" "had us a high old time" "went upriver to look at a sure-enough fish wheel" Related terms |
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[ noun ] past times (especially in the phrase "in days of old")
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