alder

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See also: Alder, Alder., ålder, and âlder

English[edit]

Female (left) and male (right) catkins of Alnus serrulata
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Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English aldre, alder, aller, from Old English alor, from Proto-West Germanic *aluʀu, from Proto-Germanic *aluz, *alusō, *alizō, *alisō.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈɔːldə/
  • (file)
  • (US, Canada)
    • (without cotcaught merger) IPA(key): /ˈɔldɚ/
    • (with cotcaught merger) IPA(key): /ˈɑldɚ/

Noun[edit]

alder (plural alders)

  1. Any of several trees or shrubs of the genus Alnus, belonging to the birch family.
    • 1923, Robert Frost, “The Axe-helve”, in New Hampshire [], New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC, page 37:
      I’ve known ere now an interfering branch / Of alder catch my lifted axe behind me. / But that was in the woods, to hold my hand / From striking at another alder’s roots, / And that was, as I say, an alder branch.
    • 1940, Rosetta E. Clarkson, Green Enchantments: The Magic Spell of Gardens, The Macmillan Company, page 273:
      Have a tree or two the witches particularly like, such as the alder, larch, cypress and hemlock; then, to counteract any possible evil effects, there must be a holly, yew, hazel, elder, mountain ash or juniper.
    • 1967, J. A. Baker, The Peregrine, page 40:
      That's what the tiercel was doing when I found him again in the alder.
Derived terms[edit]
alder species
Translations[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Clipping of alderman.

Noun[edit]

alder (plural alders)

  1. An alderman or alderwoman.
    • 2004, Stephanie Luce -, Fighting for a Living Wage, page 121:
      Almost immediately, city alders contacted the campaign to negotiate an ordinance.
    • 2013, Dawn Day Biehler, Pests in the City: Flies, Bedbugs, Cockroaches, and Rats, page 180:
      Chicago's mayor Edward Kennelly, the city alders, and many white Chicagoans opposed this siting plan.
    • 2017 September 28, Isabel Bysiewicz, “Eidelson reflects on time as alder”, in Yale Daily News:
      After three years as Ward 1 alder, Sarah Eidelson ’12 will leave city government at the end of the year.
Derived terms[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Danish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Danish aldær, from Old Norse aldr, from Proto-Germanic *aldrą.

Noun[edit]

alder c (singular definite alderen, plural indefinite aldre)

  1. age

Inflection[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Middle English[edit]

Noun[edit]

alder

  1. Alternative form of aldre

Norwegian Bokmål[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse aldr, from Proto-Germanic *aldrą. Akin to ale (to raise), from ala.

Noun[edit]

alder m (definite singular alderen, indefinite plural aldere or aldre or aldrer, definite plural alderne or aldrene)

  1. age

Derived terms[edit]

References[edit]

Norwegian Nynorsk[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse aldr, from Proto-Germanic *aldrą. Akin to ale (to raise), from ala.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

alder m (definite singular alderen, indefinite plural aldrar, definite plural aldrane)

  1. age

Derived terms[edit]

References[edit]

Old Swedish[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Old Norse allr, from Proto-Germanic *allaz.

Adjective[edit]

alder

  1. all
  2. whole, complete
Declension[edit]
Descendants[edit]
  • Swedish: all

Etymology 2[edit]

From Old Norse aldr, from Proto-Germanic *aldrą.

Noun[edit]

alder m

  1. lifetime
  2. age; how old someone or something is
  3. age, era
  4. old age
Declension[edit]
Descendants[edit]