elden meaning (archaic): definition, etymology and quotations

elden

verb

/ˈɛl.dən/

Etymology From eld + -en (“to become”). Compare Middle English elden, ealdien (“to age, grow older”). More at eld.

Archaic To advance in eld or old age; to grow older; to age.

Margery looked up at him, colouring, startled, suspicious. "Truth, Lady, you've no call to look at me thus," Hugh said, smiling. "I'm eldening now, like my late master, God cherish him, but I'm not so old I can't remember what it is to burn, […]1955, Barbara Jefferis, Beloved Lady, page 49:

adj

Etymology From eld + -en (“pertaining to”).

Rare Rare form of olden.

In the orient, elden age, / Ere man had learned to wage / Dispassionate war against his natural mind, / Thy voice of mystery— / Reading aloud the earth’s extended page, / Bade human aspirations find, / In the cool fountain and the forest tree, / A sentient Deity; […]1852 June, E[dmund] C[larence] S[tedman], “Ode to Pastoral Romance”, in The Yale Literary Magazine: […], volume XVII, number VII, New Haven, Conn.: […] A. H. Maltby. […] T. J. Stafford, stanza V, page 260:
And when, adown life’s current floating slow, / Earth’s mated hearts with happy cooings go, / It may be scarce begun the joyful voyage, / Which hope has drawn out unto elden age, / Ere the sad mandate is received, to cast / Aside the aspirings fostered of the past; […]1882, Robert Whittet, “Suffering in the Individual Life of Man”, in The Brighter Side of Suffering, and Other Poems, Richmond, Va.: Whittet & Shepperson; West, Johnston, & Co.; and J. W. Randolph & English, page 86:

1 more example

And some miles ahead, at the heart of the Riverwood and upon the banks of the Islebome, stood the ruins of Luren, once a great trade city, but destroyed in elden times: […]1984, Dennis L[ester] McKiernan, “The Gathering”, in The Darkest Day (The Iron Tower; 3), New York, N.Y.: Signet, New American Library, published 1985, →ISBN, page 53: