Ancient

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Ancient \An"cient\, a. [OE. auncien, F. ancien, LL. antianus,
     fr. L. ante before. See {Ante-}, pref.]
     1. Old; that happened or existed in former times, usually at
        a great distance of time; belonging to times long past;
        specifically applied to the times before the fall of the
        Roman empire; -- opposed to {modern}; as, ancient authors,


        literature, history; ancient days.
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              Witness those ancient empires of the earth.
                                                    --Milton.
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              Gildas Albanius . . . much ancienter than his
              namesake surnamed the Wise.           --Fuller.
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     2. Old; that has been of long duration; of long standing; of
        great age; as, an ancient forest; an ancient castle. "Our
        ancient bickerings." --Shak.
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              Remove not the ancient landmarks, which thy fathers
              have set.                             --Prov. xxii.
                                                    28.
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              An ancient man, strangely habited, asked for
              quarters.                             --Scott.
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     3. Known for a long time, or from early times; -- opposed to
        {recent} or {new}; as, the ancient continent.
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              A friend, perhaps, or an ancient acquaintance.
                                                    --Barrow.
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     4. Dignified, like an aged man; magisterial; venerable.
        [Archaic]
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              He wrought but some few hours of the day, and then
              would he seem very grave and ancient. --Holland.
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     5. Experienced; versed. [Obs.]
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              Though [he] was the youngest brother, yet he was the
              most ancient in the business of the realm.
                                                    --Berners.
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     6. Former; sometime. [Obs.]
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              They mourned their ancient leader lost. --Pope.
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     {Ancient demesne} (Eng. Law), a tenure by which all manors
        belonging to the crown, in the reign of William the
        Conqueror, were held. The numbers, names, etc., of these
        were all entered in a book called Domesday Book.
  
     {Ancient lights} (Law), windows and other openings which have
        been enjoined without molestation for more than twenty
        years. In England, and in some of the United States, they
        acquire a prescriptive right.
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     Syn: Old; primitive; pristine; antique; antiquated;
          old-fashioned; obsolete.
  
     Usage: {Ancient}, {Antiquated}, {Obsolete}, {Antique},
            {Antic}, {Old}. -- Ancient is opposed to modern, and
            has antiquity; as, an ancient family, ancient
            landmarks, ancient institutions, systems of thought,
            etc. Antiquated describes that which has gone out of
            use or fashion; as, antiquated furniture, antiquated
            laws, rules, etc. Obsolete is commonly used, instead
            of antiquated, in reference to language, customs,
            etc.; as, an obsolete word or phrase, an obsolete
            expression. Antique is applied, in present usage,
            either to that which has come down from the ancients;
            as, an antique cameo, bust, etc.; or to that which is
            made to imitate some ancient work of art; as, an
            antique temple. In the days of Shakespeare, antique
            was often used for ancient; as, "an antique song," "an
            antique Roman;" and hence, from singularity often
            attached to what is ancient, it was used in the sense
            of grotesque; as, "an oak whose antique root peeps
            out; " and hence came our present word antic, denoting
            grotesque or ridiculous. We usually apply both ancient
            and old to things subject to gradual decay. We say, an
            old man, an ancient record; but never, the old stars,
            an old river or mountain. In general, however, ancient
            is opposed to modern, and old to new, fresh, or
            recent. When we speak of a thing that existed
            formerly, which has ceased to exist, we commonly use
            ancient; as, ancient republics, ancient heroes; and
            not old republics, old heroes. But when the thing
            which began or existed in former times is still in
            existence, we use either ancient or old; as, ancient
            statues or paintings, or old statues or paintings;
            ancient authors, or old authors, meaning books.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Ancient \An"cient\, n.
     1. pl. Those who lived in former ages, as opposed to the
        {moderns}.
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     2. An aged man; a patriarch. Hence: A governor; a ruler; a
        person of influence.
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              The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients
              of his people, and the princes thereof. --Isa. iii.
                                                    14.
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     3. A senior; an elder; a predecessor. [Obs.]
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              Junius and Andronicus . . . in Christianity . . .
              were his ancients.                    --Hooker.
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     4. pl. (Eng. Law) One of the senior members of the Inns of
        Court or of Chancery.
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     {Council of Ancients} (French Hist.), one of the two
        assemblies composing the legislative bodies in 1795.
        --Brande.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Ancient \An"cient\, n. [Corrupted from ensign.]
     1. An ensign or flag. [Obs.]
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              More dishonorable ragged than an old-faced ancient.
                                                    --Shak.
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     2. The bearer of a flag; an ensign. [Obs.]
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              This is Othello's ancient, as I take it. --Shak.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  ancient
       adj 1: belonging to times long past especially of the historical
              period before the fall of the Western Roman Empire;
              "ancient history"; "ancient civilizations such as
              those of the Etruscans and Sumerians"; "ancient
              Greece"
       2: very old; "an ancient mariner"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  151 Moby Thesaurus words for "ancient":
     Bronze Age man, Hominidae, Iron Age man, Stone Age man, abiding,
     aboriginal, aborigine, advanced, advanced in life,
     advanced in years, age-long, age-old, aged, ageing, ageless,
     along in years, antediluvian, anthropoid, antiquated, antique,
     ape-man, archaic, auld, autochthon, better, brass hat, bushman,
     bygone, cave dweller, caveman, chronic, constant, continuing,
     dateless, diuturnal, doddering, doting, durable, earlier, early,
     elder, elderly, enduring, erstwhile, evergreen, fading, fore,
     forgotten, former, fossil, fossil man, fossilized, golden-ager,
     gray, gray with age, gray-haired, gray-headed, grey, grown old,
     hardy, higher-up, hoar, hoary, hominid, humanoid, immemorial,
     immutable, intransient, inveterate, lasting, late, long-lasting,
     long-lived, long-standing, long-term, longeval, longevous,
     macrobiotic, man of old, missing link, obsolescent, obsolete,
     of long duration, of long standing, of old, of yore, old,
     old as Methuselah, old as history, old as time, old-fashioned,
     old-time, old-timer, olden, once, onetime, past, patriarchal,
     perdurable, perduring, perennial, permanent, perpetual, persistent,
     persisting, preadamite, prehistoric, prehistoric man, prehuman,
     previous, primal, primate, primeval, primitive, primordial, prior,
     pristine, protohuman, quondam, recent, remaining, remote,
     sempervirent, senectuous, senior, senior citizen, sinking,
     sometime, stable, staying, steadfast, superannuated, then,
     timeless, timeworn, tough, traditional, troglodyte, unfading,
     venerable, vital, waning, wasting, white, white with age,
     white-bearded, white-crowned, white-haired, wrinkled, wrinkly,
     years old
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  ANCIENT. Something old, which by age alone has acquired some force; as
  ancient lights, ancient writings.