poet. and arch. [repr. ME. eld(e, OE. (WS.) eald (see OLD); the mod. word may however be newly f. ELD sb.] Occas. used in poetry for OLD (q.v. for earlier instances).
[c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 137. Elde, or olde, for-weryde [1499 eeld, or worne], vetustus, detritus, inveteratus.]
1619. H. Hutton, Follies Anat. (1842), 42. Steward … To serue their commons as eld servants use.
1854. Syd. Dobell, Balder, xxv. 185. Ye eld And sager Gods.
b. quasi-sb.
1592. [see ELD sb.2 3 b].
1796–1830. [see ELD sb.2 3 c].
