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)
- (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.
-
- (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 625986, 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.
- (archaic or poetic) Time; an age, an indefinitely long period of time.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:eon
- (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)
- (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)
- (intransitive, archaic, poetic or dialectal) To age, become or grow old.
- (intransitive, archaic or poetic) To delay; linger.
- (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
Norwegian Bokmål
Noun
eld m (definite singular elden, indefinite plural elder, definite plural eldene)
- form removed with the spelling reform of 2005; superseded by ild
Verb
eld
- imperative of elde
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology
From Old Norse eldr.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɛld/, /ɛlː/
Noun
eld m (definite singular elden, uncountable)
- fire
- Mange kulturar har mytar om korleis dei vart herre over elden.
- Many cultures have myths about how they mastered fire.
- fire (firing bullets or other projectiles)
- Fienden opna eld.
- The enemy opened fire.
- Fienden opna eld.
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.
Old Norse
Noun
eld
- accusative singular of eldr
Old Saxon
Etymology
From Proto-West Germanic *ailid.
Noun
ēld m
- fire
Declension
singular | plural | |
---|---|---|
nominative | ēld | ēldos |
accusative | ēld | ēldos |
genitive | ēldes | ēldō |
dative | ēlde | ēldum |
instrumental | — | — |
Swedish
Etymology
From Old Swedish elder, from Old Norse eldr, from Proto-Germanic *ailidaz.
Pronunciation
audio (file) - IPA(key): /ˈɛld/
Noun
eld c
- (uncountable) fire, a continued chemical exothermic reaction where a gaseous material reacts, and which creates enough heat to evaporate more combustible material
- something set up as to burn, such as a campfire or a bonfire
- (uncountable, alchemy) fire; one of the classical, or basic, elements
- (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
Derived terms
- elda
- eldkastare
- eld och lågor (adjective)
- eldstad
- eldunderstöd
- ingen rök utan eld
- signaleld
- spärreld
- trumeld
- verkanseld
See also
- fjutt
Anagrams
- LED, del, led