Ancientry
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The quality or fact of being ancient or very old. archaic, countable, uncountable
"PEN, made of reed, cut, &c. like our pens, is of classical ancientry; but the first certain account of quill pens is in 636, in Isidore."
- 2 Old-fashioned style, elaborate ceremony. archaic, countable, uncountable
"[…] wooing, wedding, and repenting, is as a Scotch jig, a measure, and a cinque pace: the first suit is hot and hasty, like a Scotch jig, and full as fantastical; the wedding, mannerly-modest, as a measure, full of state and ancientry; and then comes repentance and, with his bad legs, falls into the cinque pace faster and faster, till he sink into his grave."
- 3 Elderly people, elders, ancients (collectively). archaic, countable, uncountable
"I would there were no age between sixteen and three-and-twenty, or that youth would sleep out the rest; for there is nothing in the between but getting wenches with child, wronging the ancientry, stealing, fighting—"
- 4 Something ancient (countable); ancient things (collectively). archaic, countable, uncountable
"Kings Lynn is a pleasant town to ramble about. […] In its quiet and more secluded streets you come upon bits of ancientry, the waifs and strays of monastic times […]"
- 5 The olden days; antiquity. archaic, countable, uncountable
"Ere all, in ancientry æterne, was God (Holy and blessed always be His name) In essence inconceivable."
Example
More examples"PEN, made of reed, cut, &c. like our pens, is of classical ancientry; but the first certain account of quill pens is in 636, in Isidore."
Etymology
From ancient + -ry.
Related phrases
More for "ancientry"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.