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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



... been to anyone—but he saw that she preferred her own company to his; and so, much to the disgust of Mr. Longworth, he spent most of his time at cards in the smoking-room, whereas, according to the elder gentleman's opinion, he should have been promenading the ...
— A Woman Intervenes • Robert Barr
... in the school, I think, swarmed across the river with us when we started away early in the morning, and the elder ones ran with the sled along the portage, mile after mile, until I turned them back lest they be ...
— Ten Thousand Miles with a Dog Sled - A Narrative of Winter Travel in Interior Alaska • Hudson Stuck
... Presbyterians are quite agreed in maintaining that the terms "bishop" or overseer, and "presbyter" or elder, were synonymous in the pure or primitive Church, and applied indifferently to the same persons, and that prelacy and all its developments were subsequent corruptions. The peculiar tenet of independency, distinguishing it from Presbyterianism, consists in ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 11 • Various
... opposite to those of Asia. That of one female associating her fate and fortune with all the brothers of a family, without any restriction of age or numbers. The choice of a wife is the privilege of the elder brother; and singular as it may seem, a Thibetan wife is as jealous of her connubial rites as ever the despot of an Indian Zenana is of the favours of ...
— Diary of a Pedestrian in Cashmere and Thibet • by William Henry Knight
... grew more and more clear that Peter was as strong as his poor stepbrother Ivan was weak, and in order to satisfy the people the younger boy was made joint-Czar with the elder. ...
— Historic Boyhoods • Rupert Sargent Holland


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