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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


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"Elder" Quotes from Famous Books



... at the coldness with which I treated a man so much my elder, I gradually assumed towards Mr. Blake a manner less reserved. He quickly availed himself of the change, and launched out into an eloquent expose of my advantages and capabilities; the only immediate effect of ...
— Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon, Volume 2 (of 2) • Charles Lever
... in so far possessed of that superior excellence, which the poor dwarf, in his secret soul, valued before all other distinctions, although in his conversation, he was constantly depreciating it. "Good comrade and namesake," he proceeded, stretching out his hand, so as to again to reach the elder Peveril's cloak, "I forgive your want of reminiscence, seeing it is long since I saw you at Naseby, fighting as if you had as many arms ...
— Peveril of the Peak • Sir Walter Scott
... pleasure which shadowed with so many fears the wiser and more far-seeing heads and hearts of the grown people; nor was there enough language yet in common between the two classes to make the little ones comprehend the risk they had run. Perhaps so do our elder brothers, in our Father's house, look anxiously out when we are sailing gayly over life's sea,—over unknown depths,—amid threatening monsters,—but want words to tell us why what seems so bright is ...
— The Pearl of Orr's Island - A Story of the Coast of Maine • Harriet Beecher Stowe
... Peveril's second letter, stating that he could not leave America, after all, and the elder lady ...
— The Copper Princess - A Story of Lake Superior Mines • Kirk Munroe
... Yemen, had a young brother of singular beauty and kept strait watch over him. So he applied himself to seek a governor for him and coming upon an elder of dignified and reverend aspect, chaste and pious, lodged him in a house next his own, whence he used to come daily to the Vizier's dwelling, to teach the latter's brother. After awhile, the old man's heart was taken with love for his pupil ...
— The Book Of The Thousand Nights And One Night, Volume IV • Anonymous


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