eld

See also: éld, 'eld, -eld, and eld.

English

Alternative forms

• elth
• eild, eeld, ild, yeeld (Scotland)

Etymology

From Middle English elde, from Old English ieldu, eldo, ieldo (“age, period of time; period; time of life, years; mature or old age, eld; an age of the world, era, epoch”), from Proto-West Germanic *aldī, from Proto-Germanic *alþį̄ (“eld, age”), from *aldaz (“grown up, mature, old”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eltós, from *h₂el- (“to raise, feed”).

Cognate with Scots eild (“age”), North Frisian jelde (“age”), German Älte (“age”), Danish ælde (“eld, age”), Icelandic elli (“eld, age”). Related also to Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌳𐍃 (alds, “generation, age”), Old English alan (“to grow up, nourish”). More at old.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛld/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛld

Noun

eld (uncountable)

1. (rare or dialectal) One's age, age in years, period of life.
   • 1868, John Eadie, A Biblical Cyclopædia:

     The experience of many years gave old men peculiar qualification for various offices; and elders, or men of a ripe or advanced eld or age, were variously employed under the Mosaic law.

   • 1913, Paulist Fathers, Catholic World:

     Promptly appeared a paragon, aged twenty-five or thereabouts, and exhibiting all the steadiness and serenity of advanced eld.

2. (archaic or poetic) Old age, senility; an old person.

   Synonyms: elderliness; see also Thesaurus:old age, Thesaurus:old person

   • 1847, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Threnody”, in Poems, Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company, →OCLC, page 245:

     Taught he not thee—the man of eld, / Whose eyes within his eyes beheld / Heaven's numerous hierarchy span / The mystic gulf from God to man?

   • 1904, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, The Sun's Shame, verse 2, lines 1-3:

     As some true chief of men, bowed down with stress
     Of life's disastrous eld, on blossoming youth
     May gaze, and murmur with self-pity and ruth […]

   • 1912, Herbert Van Allen Ferguson, Rhymes of Eld:

     The withered limbs of eld, the thin, gray hair […]

   • 1912, Arthur S[anders], transl. Way, Medea, Heinemann, translation of Medea by Euripides, published 1946, page 329:

     the alien wife / No crown of honour was as eld drew on.

3. (archaic or poetic) Time; an age, an indefinitely long period of time.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:eon

4. (archaic or poetic) Former ages, antiquity, olden times.

   Synonyms: days of yore; see also Thesaurus:the past

   • 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska, published 2005, page 38:

     Once adown the dewy way a youthful cavalier spurred with a maiden mounted behind him, swiftly passing out of sight, recalling to the imagination some romance of eld, when the damosel fled with her lover.

Adjective

eld (comparative elder, superlative eldest)

1. (obsolete) Old.

Synonyms

• (old): aged, venerable; see also Thesaurus:old

Related terms

• eldren

Verb

eld (third-person singular simple present elds, present participle elding, simple past and past participle elded)

1. (intransitive, archaic, poetic or dialectal) To age, become or grow old.
2. (intransitive, archaic or poetic) To delay; linger.
3. (transitive, archaic or poetic) To make old, age.

Synonyms

• (to age): elden; see also Thesaurus:to age
• (to linger): abide; see also Thesaurus:tarry or Thesaurus:procrastinate
• (to make old): mature; see also Thesaurus:make older

References

• 1906, The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia, "eld".

Anagrams

• DLE, Del, Del., EDL, LDE, LED, del, del., led, μLED

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Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

eld m (definite singular elden, indefinite plural elder, definite plural eldene)

1. form removed with the spelling reform of 2005; superseded by ild

Verb

eld

1. imperative of elde

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse eldr.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛld/, /ɛlː/

Noun

eld m (definite singular elden, uncountable)

1. fire

   Mange kulturar har mytar om korleis dei vart herre over elden.

   Many cultures have myths about how they mastered fire.

2. fire (firing bullets or other projectiles)

   Fienden opna eld.

   The enemy opened fire.

Usage notes

Eld is mainly used about the abstract concept of fire. The accidental occurrence of fire, such as a fire in a building, is brann.

References

• “eld” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Old Norse

Noun

eld

1. accusative singular of eldr

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Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *ailid.

Noun

ēld m

1. fire

Declension

Declension of ēld (masculine a-stem)

	singular	plural
nominative	ēld	ēldos
accusative	ēld	ēldos
genitive	ēldes	ēldō
dative	ēlde	ēldum
instrumental	—	—

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Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish elder, from Old Norse eldr, from Proto-Germanic *ailidaz.

Pronunciation

• audio:

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛld/

Noun

eld c

1. (uncountable) fire, a continued chemical exothermic reaction where a gaseous material reacts, and which creates enough heat to evaporate more combustible material
2. something set up as to burn, such as a campfire or a bonfire
3. (uncountable, alchemy) fire; one of the classical, or basic, elements
4. (uncountable) fire; the in-flight projectiles from a gun or similar

Declension

Declension of eld

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	eld	elds
	definite	elden	eldens
plural	indefinite	eldar	eldars
	definite	eldarna	eldarnas

Synonyms

• (something set up to burn): brasa, bål, vårdkase

• ((case of) accidental, uncontrolled fire): brand

Derived terms

• elda
• eldkastare
• eld och lågor (adjective)
• eldstad
• eldunderstöd
• ingen rök utan eld
• signaleld
• spärreld
• trumeld
• verkanseld

Anagrams

• LED, del, led