Free TranslationFree Translation
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home 		English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Elder   /ˈɛldər/   Listen
adjective
Elder  adj.  
1.
Older; more aged, or existing longer. "Let the elder men among us emulate their own earlier deeds."
2.
Born before another; prior in years; senior; earlier; older; as, his elder brother died in infancy; opposed to younger, and now commonly applied to a son, daughter, child, brother, etc. "The elder shall serve the younger." "But ask of elder days, earth's vernal hour."
Elder hand (Card Playing), the hand playing, or having the right to play, first.


noun
Elder  n.  
1.
One who is older; a superior in age; a senior.
2.
An aged person; one who lived at an earlier period; a predecessor. "Carry your head as your elders have done."
3.
A person who, on account of his age, occupies the office of ruler or judge; hence, a person occupying any office appropriate to such as have the experience and dignity which age confers; as, the elders of Israel; the elders of the synagogue; the elders in the apostolic church. Note: In the modern Presbyterian churches, elders are lay officers who, with the minister, compose the church session, with authority to inspect and regulate matters of religion and discipline. In some churches, pastors or clergymen are called elders, or presbyters.
4.
(M. E. Ch.) A clergyman authorized to administer all the sacraments; as, a traveling elder.
Presiding elder (Meth. Ch.), an elder commissioned by a bishop to have the oversight of the churches and preachers in a certain district.
Ruling elder, a lay presbyter or member of a Presbyterian church session.


Elder  n.  (Bot.) A genus of shrubs (Sambucus) having broad umbels of white flowers, and small black or red berries. Note: The common North American species is Sambucus Canadensis; the common European species (S. nigra) forms a small tree. The red-berried elder is S. pubens. The berries are diaphoretic and aperient. The European elder (Sambucus nigra) is also called the elderberry, bourtree, Old World elder, black elder, and common elder.
Box elder. See under 1st Box.
Dwarf elder. See Danewort.
Elder tree. (Bot.) Same as Elder.
Marsh elder, the cranberry tree Viburnum Opulus).





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words


Share |




"Elder" Quotes from Famous Books



... blacked their faces for them. They made their masters wait upon them. In the ages of faith, an ass dressed in sacerdotal robes was gravely conducted to the cathedral choir at a certain season, and mass was said before him, and hymns chanted discordantly. The elder D'Israeli, from whom I am quoting, writes: "On other occasions, they put burnt old shoes to fume in the censors: ran about the church leaping, singing, dancing, and playing at dice upon the altar, while a boy bishop or pope of fools burlesqued the divine service;" ...
— Selections from Previous Works - and Remarks on Romanes' Mental Evolution in Animals • Samuel Butler
... intellectual power, of the great nature to which he belongs. He stands always in advance of himself, if such a contradiction can be understood. It is the men who adhere to this position, who believe in their innate power of progress, and that of the whole race, who are the elder brothers, the pioneers. Each man has to accomplish the great leap for himself and without aid; yet it is something of a staff to lean on to know that others have gone on that road. It is possible that they have been lost ...
— Light On The Path and Through the Gates of Gold • Mabel Collins
... masked prisoner, treated with the highest respect by Louvois, the Minister of Louis XIV. At last, in 'Questions sur l'Encyclopedie' (second edition), Voltaire averred that the Mask was the son of Anne of Austria and Mazarin, an elder brother of Louis XIV. Changes were rung on this note: the Mask was the actual King, Louis XIV. was a bastard. Others held that he was James, Duke of Monmouth—or Moliere! In 1770 Heiss identified him with Mattioli, the Mantuan intriguer, and especially after the ...
— The Valet's Tragedy and Other Stories • Andrew Lang
... world than I could have wished: for the poor child began to understand what was going on. So, too, your own son, your own image, whom my little Cicero loved as a brother, and was now beginning to respect as an elder brother! Need I mention also how I refused to allow my unhappy wife—the truest of helpmates—to accompany me, that there might be some one to protect the wrecks of the calamity which had fallen on us both, ...
— Letters of Cicero • Marcus Tullius Cicero
... two-thirds of the Dark Ladi must have perished long before 1817, when Sibylline Leaves was passing through the press, and it was found necessary to swell the Contents with 'two School-boy Poems' and 'with a song modernized with some additions from one of our elder poets'. ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Vol I and II • Samuel Taylor Coleridge


More quotes...


Copyright © 2025 e-Free Translation.com