eld

See also: '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-Germanic *aldį̄ (“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/

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.
   • 1912, Herbert Van Allen Ferguson, Rhymes of eld:

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

   • 1912, Arthur S. Way, translating Euripides, Medea, Heinemann 1946, p. 329:

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

   • 1904, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, The Sun's Shame, II, 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 […]

3. (archaic or poetic) Time; an age, an indefinitely long period of time.
4. (archaic or poetic) Former ages, antiquity, olden times.
   • 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska 2005, p. 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.

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.

References

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

Anagrams

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

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Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

eld

1. imperative of elde

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛld/, /ɛlː/

Etymology

From Old Norse eldr.

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 occurrance of fire, such as a fire in a building, is brann.

Further reading

• “eld” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *ailidaz.

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
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	eld	elden	eldar	eldarna
Genitive	elds	eldens	eldars	eldarnas

Synonyms

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

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

Compounds

• eldstad
• eldunderstöd

Derived terms

• elda