eld
English
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-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/
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.
- 1868, John Eadie, A Biblical cyclopædia:
- (archaic or poetic) Old age, senility; an old person.
- 1912, Herbert Van Allen Ferguson, Rhymes of eld:
- The withered limbs of eld, the thin, gray hair [...]
- 1912, Arthur S. Way, translating Euripides, Medea, Heinemann 1946, p. 329:
- the alien wife / No crown of honour was as eld drew on.
- 1904, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, The Sun's Shame, II, 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:
- (archaic or poetic) Time; an age, an indefinitely long period of time.
- (archaic or poetic) Former ages, antiquity, olden times.
- 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska 2005, p. 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.
- 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska 2005, p. 38:
Related terms
Verb
eld (third-person singular simple present elds, present participle elding, simple past and past participle elded)
References
- 1906, The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia, "eld".
Norwegian Bokmål
Norwegian Nynorsk
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɛld/, /ɛlː/
Noun
eld m (definite singular elden, uncountable)
Usage notes
Eld is mainly used about the abstract concept of fire. The accidental occurrance of fire, such as a fire in a building, is brann.
Old Saxon
Etymology
From Proto-Germanic *ailidaz.
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
- ((case of) accidental, uncontrolled fire): brand
Compounds
- eldstad
- eldunderstöd