old

Less common meanings

9. 9
   tiresomeadjective

   Tiresome after being repeated too many times.

   The novelty wore off quickly, and the joke soon grew old.

   Her habit of showing up late was getting old, and the team let her know it.

   UsageUsually after get or grow: the joke is getting old, that grew old fast.

   Similartiresome, stale, tedious

   Note

   Its subject is a joke, a song or a routine. With a person as the subject, the phrase slides back toward the sense for living beings.

10. 10
    adjective

    An intensifier combined with another adjective, often when describing something positive.

    We settled in for a good old chat over coffee.

    It turned into a great old celebration that lasted all night.

    UsageAfter another adjective: a good old chat, a big old dog. Any old means any at all.

    Note

    Here the idea of age has drained away, leaving warmth and emphasis.

11. 11
    the elderlynouncountable or uncountableinvariableplural

    People who are old, considered together as a group; the older generation.

    Public health programs that protect the old also ease pressure on hospitals.

    In many cultures, the old are honored for their long experience.

    UsageWith the and are: the old are honored. For one person, say an old person or an older person.

    Similarelderly, aged

    Oppositeyoung

12. 12
    nounslangcountable or uncountable

    One's parents, usually spoken of together as a pair.

    My olds are away for the weekend, so the house is ours.

    She finally told her olds about the new job.

    UsageUsually with my or the: my olds, tell the olds. Best among friends.

    Similarfolks, parents

    Note

    It is the same slang noun as the word for anyone older, narrowed to one's own parents. Source

    Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • The parents sense is a more specific sense of the same slang noun used for someone older than oneself. en.wiktionary.org
13. 13
    nounslangcountable or uncountable

    A person older than oneself, especially an adult seen from a teenager's point of view.

    To the kids at the skate park, anyone over thirty is one of the olds.

    He complained that the olds at the office never understood his jokes.

    UsageUsed as an old, one of the olds. It sounds mildly dismissive, so it can be rude to an older listener.

    Note

    Near-synonyms are geezer, oldie and oldster, and like them it carries a mildly dismissive edge, as in "some old tried to tell us to turn the music down."

14. 14
    adjective

    Of a species or language, belonging to a lineage distantly related to the others around it.

    Similarancient

    Note

    A biologist's and linguist's use, in which old means isolated rather than early. The ginkgo or Basque called "the oldest" is the one whose lineage stands farthest from its living relatives, often described as relict or a living fossil. It favors the superlative and should not be read as a claim that the tree or language literally began first. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • Kew explains ginkgo's antiquity through its ancient lineage and fossil history, rather than defining oldest as greatest distance from living relatives. kew.org
    • Basque has no known living relatives, so this ranking is not established. The defensible historical distinction concerns its ancestor's presence in western Europe before the ancestors of neighboring languages arrived. nabasque.eus
    • Basal concerns position relative to the root of a phylogenetic tree; it is not synonymous with isolation or maximum distance from living relatives. en.wikipedia.org
15. 15
    faded (color)adjective

    Of a color, especially red, pink, or orange, soft and subdued as though faded with age.

    The designer chose an old pink for the upholstery, muted and warm.

    Faded to an old red, the barn blended into the autumn hills.

    UsageMostly in shade names: old rose, old gold, old pink.

    Similarmuted, faded

    Oppositebright, vivid

    Note

    A colorist's modifier that softens a warm hue rather than dating it: old rose, old gold, an old pink. It evokes the look of a pigment dulled by time, so it fixes itself to the color word and works as part of a shade's name. Antique does the same work in the same position.

16. 16
    school graduate (UK)adjectiveUK

    Of a person, being a former pupil or graduate of a particular school, especially a British public school.

    As an Old Etonian, he still goes back for the annual school dinner.

    The club admits only old boys of the founding school.

    UsageOften in old boys and old girls, or before a word for a school's pupils: an Old Etonian.

    Note

    A British school word, capitalized when it forms a title: an Old Etonian is a former pupil of Eton, and old boys and old girls are a school's former pupils. It says nothing about age, so a young graduate qualifies at once. The usage grows directly out of the "former" meaning. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • An Old Etonian is a former pupil of Eton College. en.wikipedia.org
    • The school-alumni use of 'old' is an application of its 'former' meaning. en.wiktionary.org
17. 17
    too grown-upadjective

    Intended for older people, and so unsuitable for someone younger, as in a book too old for a six-year-old.

    The themes in the play felt too old for a school assembly of young pupils.

    Parents complained that the show was far too old for its early evening slot.

    UsageMostly in too old for: too old for young children.

    Similaradult, mature

    Note

    Here age is shifted from the audience to the thing made for it: a story is old when its readers need to be older. Oliver Optic's Magazine used it in 1868: too old for our Juvenile Magazine. The comparative works the same way, as in Christine L. Williams's Inside Toyland (2006) on parents buying 'older' toys. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Oliver Optic's Magazine used the quoted phrase in 1868. en.wiktionary.org
    • Christine L. Williams wrote Inside Toyland, first published in 2006. ucpress.edu
    • Inside Toyland discusses parents buying toys described as 'older'. en.wiktionary.org
18. 18
    dark beernounAustraliauncountable

    A typically dark beer made by the traditional top-fermentation brewing method.

    She poured herself a glass of old after the long shift.

    Many regulars order old, finding the pale lagers too light for their taste.

    UsageOrdered as a glass of old or a schooner of old.

    Oppositenew

    Note

    An Australian pub word, ordered by the glass, as in Peter Corris's "two schooners of old" (2010). Behind the bar it stands against new and is set beside light. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • The Peter Corris work containing the example, Torn Apart, was first published in 2010. openlibrary.org
    • Corris's Torn Apart contains the exact phrase 'two schooners of old'. en.wiktionary.org
19. 19
    adjectiveobsolete

    Excessive or abundant; present in great quantity.

    URSULA: Madam, you must come to your uncle. Yonder's old coil at home: it is proved, my Lady Hero hath been falsely accused, the prince and Claudio mightily abused;

    1598, William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”

    Note

    Shakespeare's "Yonder's old coil at home" in Much Ado About Nothing means a great commotion, not an ancient one. Readers of older texts should take old before a noun of uproar this way. As a free adjective the sense is obsolete, though its force lingers in a high old time, close kin to the intensifier in good old. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • The quotation occurs in William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing; Ursula is the speaker. gutenberg.org
    • Old has the historical meaning excessive or abundant, illustrated by this quotation. en.wiktionary.org
20. 20
    adjective

    Describing someone whose years of doing a particular thing have made them skilled and experienced at it.

    Though barely thirty, the director is an old hand at managing difficult actors.

    The rookies watched the old pros on the crew set up the stage in half the time.

    UsageMostly before a noun: an old hand, an old pro. She is old does not mean she is skilled.

    Similarseasoned, experienced, veteran

    Oppositeinexperienced

    Note

    Age has little to do with it: a director of thirty can be an old hand, because what has grown long is the experience. That fits the word's root, a participle meaning "grown". Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • Old ultimately derives from a participle meaning "grown". en.wiktionary.org