agedness

agedness

English

Etymology

From Middle English agednes, agidnes, equivalent to aged +‎ -ness.

Noun

agedness (uncountable)

1. The state or quality of being aged.
   • 1641, John Milton, Of Reformation in England and the Causes that Hitherto Have Hindered It, Volume I, in Charles Symmons (ed.), The Prose Works of John Milton, London: J. Johnson (etc.), 1806, Volume I, pp. 21-22 (citing the 74th epistle of Cyprian),

     Neither ought custom to hinder that truth should not prevail; for custom without truth is but agedness of errour.

   • 1856, John Ruskin, chapter 1, in Modern Painters, volume IV (part V), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], page 3:

     I cannot tell the half of the strange pleasures and thoughts that come about me at the sight of that old tower; for, in some sort, it is the epitome of all that makes the Continent of Europe interesting, as opposed to new countries; and, above all, it completely expresses that agedness in the midst of active life which binds the old and the new into harmony.

   • 1946, Mervyn Peake, Titus Groan, London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, “Assemblage,”

     Keda's oldness was the work of fate, alchemy. An occult agedness. A transparent darkness. A broken and mysterious grove. A tragedy, a glory, a decay.

Synonyms

• elderliness, oldness, senectitude; see also Thesaurus:oldness

Derived terms

• middle-agedness