auld
adjUS /oʊld/ · UK /əʊld/
Etymology From Scots auld or from Northern Middle English auld, aulde, awld, awlde, ald, alde, from Northumbrian Old English ald, variant of Old English eald (“old, mature, venerable; antique, ancient, primeval”), from Proto-West Germanic *ald, from Proto-Germanic *aldaz (“grown up; old”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eltós (“grown, nourished, matured”). Compare cognate Latin altus (“nourished, raised, grown; tall”). Doublet of old.
Archaic outwith Northern England; Liverpool; archaic outwith Northern England; Liverpool
- To prepare for the burning bowl, each person writes on slips of paper those negative traits or situations they would like to be rid of in the year to come. Examples might be, […] “Proclivity for attracting Messrs. Wrong”—anything that needs to go in the auld acquaintance category and be never brought to mind.2004, Victoria Moran, “December 27: The Burning Bowl”, in Younger by the Day: 365 Ways to Rejuvenate Your Body and Revitalize Your Spirit, [San Francisco, Calif.]: HarperSanFrancisco, →ISBN, page 428:
- Related terms
- alderman, auld birkie, aulden, auldfarrand, auld-fashioned, auld lang syne, auld-warld, auld wives' tongues, eld, elder, old