antiquity

From Middle English antiquyte, antiquite, antiquytee, a borrowing from Old French antiquité, antiquitet, from Latin antiquitas, from antiquus; see antique, antic. Compare with French antiquité.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ænˈtɪk.kwɪ.ti/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ænˈtɪk.kwə.ti/

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antiquity (countable and uncountable, plural antiquities)

1. Ancient times; faraway history; former ages

   Cicero was an eloquent orator of antiquity.

2. The people of ancient times.
   • That such pillars were raised by Seth all antiquity has avowed. —Sir W. Raleigh.
3. (obsolete) An old gentleman.
   • You are a shrewd antiquity, neighbor Clench. —B. Jonson.
4. (historical) The historical period preceding the Middle Ages (c. 500-1500), primarily relating to European history.
5. (often constructed as an uncountable plural) A relic or monument of ancient times, such as a coin, a statue, etc.; an ancient institution.
6. The state of being ancient or of ancient lineage.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 5, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, […], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.

• Antiquity
• classical antiquity
• Late Antiquity

• antiquity in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• antiquity in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.