▪ I. olden, a.
(ˈəʊld(ə)n)
[f. old n.2 + -en4.
(It has been suggested that the suffix may represent an earlier inflexion of old. Cf. Ger. in der alten Zeit.)]
1. Belonging to a bygone age or time; ancient, old: esp. in the phr. ‘the olden time’ (Shakes.). literary and arch.
| a 1425 Cursor M. 18100 (Trin.) To ende he seide now com my sawes Þat I seide bi olden dawes. 1426 Audelay Poems 22 The goodys of hole cherche..That other han ȝeven in holdoun dais. 1605 Shakes. Macb. iii. iv. 75 Blood hath bene shed ere now, i' th' olden time. 1806 Knox & Jebb Corr. I. 305 To talk and write..like those of ‘olden time’. 1816 Scott Tales My Landlord Ser. i. Introd., A young person..who delighted in the collection of olden tales and legends. 1837 Longfellow Flowers i, In language quaint and olden. 1848 Clough Amours de Voy. iii. 79 The words of the olden-time inspiration. 1849 Miss Mulock Ogilvies xlvi. (1875) 356 Some new bond had made the very memory of that olden pledge a sin. |
2. poetic for old a. 1, 2. rare.
| 1823 Byron Juan xii. xliii, Olden she was—but had been very young. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus xxvii. 1 Boy, young caterer of Falernian olden. |
Hence † ˈoldenness, olden quality, antiquity.
| 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 193 The ij⊇ caus is that matremony ys to be comend is the oldennysse of hit, ffor this ordir ys not nyowely maket, but of oldennys hit passith all manner of orderis in erth. |
▪ II. olden, v. rare.
(ˈəʊld(ə)n)
[f. old a. + -en5.]
1. intr. To grow old, to become older in appearance or character, to age.
| 1827 Mary Frampton Jrnl. (1885) 329 Her face is oldened and more sallow. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xviii, In six weeks he oldened more than he had done for fifteen years before. 1852 ― Esmond i. ix, She had oldened..as people do who suffer silently great mental pain. |
2. trans. To cause to grow old, to make older in appearance or character, to age.
| 1850 Thackeray Pendennis liii, It was curious how emotion seemed to olden him. 1863 Denise II. 188 When oldened by sorrow he might feel the deep spell that Denise possessed. |
Hence ˈoldened, ˈoldening ppl. adjs.
| 1876 Mrs. Whitney Sights & Ins. II. xxiv. 525 It was the joy of oldening years. 1892 Temple Bar Mag. Dec. 580 Her friend's oldened and altered looks. |
▪ III. olden
obs. f. holden, pa. pple. of hold v.