Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A dialectal variant of eld. Grose.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • So Ealdthryth is eald = old and thryth = strength.

    Black Sabbath Gets Medieval ealdthryth 2003

  • [11] Anglo-Saxon _ealdorman_ (_eald_ means "old").

    Early European History Hutton Webster

  • Thus we have, in the more ancient language -- eald; plural, eald-E; with Chaucer -- old; plural, old-E, &c.

    Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 57, No. 357, June, 1845 Various

  • Cf. _Laws of AElfred_, C. 17: Nā þæt ǣlc eald sȳ, ac þæt hē eald sȳ on wīsdōme. l.

    Beowulf Robert Sharp 1879

  • Hwearf þā hrædlīce, þǣr Hrōðgār sæt, eald and unhār mid his eorla gedriht; ēode ellen-rōf, þæt hē for eaxlum gestōd

    Beowulf Robert Sharp 1879

  • E. remarks of the hyphened eald-fæder, "hyphens are risky toys to play with in fixing texts of pre-hyphenial antiquity"; eald-fæder could only = _grandfather_. eald here can only mean _honored_, and the hyphen is unnecessary.

    Beowulf Robert Sharp 1879

  • Grendel, 1777. eald-gewyrht, st. n., _merit on account of services rendered during many years_: nom.pl. þæt nǣron eald-gewyrht, þæt hē āna scyle gnorn þrowian,

    Beowulf Robert Sharp 1879

  • Hord-wynne fond eald ūht-sceaða opene standan, sē þe byrnende biorgas sēceð nacod nīð-draca, nihtes flēogeð

    Beowulf Robert Sharp 1879

  • Geseah þā on searwum sige-ēadig bil, eald sweord eotenisc ecgum þȳhtig,

    Beowulf Robert Sharp 1879

  • Næs þæt þonne mǣtost mægen-fultuma, þæt him on þearfe lāh þyle Hrōðgāres; wæs þǣm hæft-mēce Hrunting nama, þæt wæs ān foran eald-gestrēona;

    Beowulf Robert Sharp 1879

Comments

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  • (noun) - (1) Old age; pure Saxon. Chaucer has elde, and Shakespeare eld.

    --John Brockett's Glossary of North Country Words, 1825

    (2) Eld, used collectively for aged persons. The Merry Wives of Windsor.

    --C.H. Herford's Notes on the Works of Shakespeare, 1902

    January 22, 2018