Eldern

adj

adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Elder; elderly; aged; old.
  2. 2
    Made of elder wood, or of the elder tree. not-comparable, obsolete

    "[T]ruth, a heauen he would diſcharge vs as boyes do elderne guns, one pellet to ſtrike out another: […]"

  3. 3
    Not new; old; ancient.

Example

More examples

"[T]ruth, a heauen he would diſcharge vs as boyes do elderne guns, one pellet to ſtrike out another: […]"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English eldern, eldrin, elderne, equivalent to elder + -en.

Etymology 2

From an alteration (due to elder) of Middle English ellern (“eldern”), from Old English ellærn, ellarn (“of elder-wood, eldern”), equivalent to elder + -en.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.