Meaning & use
eld
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Meanings
noununcountablearchaicliterary
Old age; the time of life when a person is old.
Grammar: Used without a: the weakness of eld. It appears only in old verse.
Patterns
- the weakness of eld
The poet wrote of the cares that come with eld.
In his eld, the king grew forgetful.
The ballad describes the sorrows of eld.
noununcountablearchaicliterary
Ancient times, long ago in the past.
Grammar: Often with of: the heroes of eld.
Patterns
- of eld
Tales of the heroes of eld filled the book.
The singer recalled the lords of eld.
Nothing remained of the glory of eld.
Common combinations
- heroes of eld
- The poem praised the heroes of eld.
- in the days of eld
- In the days of eld, giants walked the earth.
- tales of eld
- He loved tales of eld.
- men of eld
- The men of eld built these halls.
- lore of eld
- The lore of eld was passed down by song.
Synonyms and how they differ
- yore
- Yore means the distant past and is the closest match, mainly in the phrase days of yore.
- antiquity
- Antiquity is a formal, neutral term for ancient times, not poetic.
- old age
- Old age is the plain everyday phrase, while eld is archaic.
- bygone days
- Bygone days is a more common phrase for past times and sounds less archaic.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: eld or elf? eld or held?
eld vs elf
An elf is a magical being; eld means old age or ancient times.
eld vs held
Held is the past tense of hold and is pronounced similarly without the h.
Practice
In a poem, 'the heroes of eld' most likely means heroes of ___.
Choose one answer.
Eld refers to old age or ancient times. The other options have no link to the word.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “eld”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.