longeval

English

Alternative forms

• longaeval

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɒnˈd͡ʒiːvəl/
• Rhymes: -iːvəl

Adjective

longeval (comparative more longeval, superlative most longeval)

1. (rare, archaic) Long-lived

   Synonym: longevous

   • a. 1719 (date written), Martinus Scriblerus [pseudonym; Alexander Pope; Thomas Parnell], “An Essay of the Learned Martinus Scriblerus, Concerning the Origin of Sciences”, in Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume XVII, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, →OCLC, page 81:

     If under their present low circumstances of birth and breeding, and in so short a term of life as is now allotted to them, they so far exceed all beasts, and equal many men; what prodigies may we not conceive of those, who were nati melioribus annis, those primitive, longeval, and antediluvian man-tigers, who first taught science to the world?

References

• “longeval”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.