▪ I. antique, a. and n.
(ænˈtiːk, ˈæntɪk: see below)
Forms: α. 6 antyk(e, auntyke, 6–7 antik(e, -ick(e, 6–8 antick. β. 6– antique.
[ad. L. antīqu-us, antīc-us, former, earlier, ancient, f. ante before (like postīcus, f. post after); or perh. immed. f. Fr. antique (16th c. ad. L., replacing OFr. antif). The modern antic is a parallel form, which has always been distinct in sense in Eng., though both were spelt antik(e, antick(e in 16th c. For the present word the Fr. spelling antique has been concurrent from the first, and the only one since 1700. But the identity of pronunciation remained longer; Dr. Johnson says antique ‘was formerly pronounced according to English analogy, with the accent on the first syllable; but now after the French, with the accent on the last, at least in prose; the poets use it variously.’ In senses 1, 2 (ˈæntɪk) is still used in poetry; the prosaic 4–7 are always (ænˈtiːk); 3 usually so. See also antic.]
A. adj.
1. Belonging to former times, ancient, olden. (Now generally rhetorical = of the ‘good old times.’)
| α 1541 R. Copland Galyen's Terap. 2 C iij b, And that this reason and maner were antyke. 1595 Spenser Sonn. lxxix, The famous warriors of the anticke world. 1621 Quarles Esther (1717) 141 Me list not ramble into antick days. 1678 Butler Hud. iii. i. 43 And us'd the only Antick Philters Deriv'd from old Heroick Tilters. |
| β 1538 Starkey England 4 The old and antique phylosopharys. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, v. Prol. 26 The Senatours of th' antique Rome. 1664 Butler Hud. ii. iii. 902 Some say the Zodiack Constellations Haue long since changed their antique Stations. 1742 W. Collins Ode viii. 66 It is held of antique story. 1863 Clough Relig. Poems ii. 31 The antique pure simplicity with which God and good angels communed undispleased. |
2. Having existed since olden times; of a good old age, aged, venerable. arch.
| α 1536 Pilgr. T. 65 in Thynne's Animadv. App. 79 The old and antyk bulding. 1547 Boorde Introd. Knowl. i. (1870) 120 The thyrd auntyke vniuersite of the worlde, named Oxford. 1664 Butler Hud. ii. i. 792 Or Innovation introduce In place of things of antick use. |
| β 1596 Spenser State Irel. 28 A nation so antique, as that no monument remaines of her beginning. 1610 G. Fletcher Christ's Vict. i. iv, Ye sacred writings in whose antique leaves. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. III. 138 Tempted them to neglect the care of their antique walls. |
3. a. Old-fashioned, antiquated, such as is no longer extant.
| α 1647 N. Bacon Hist. Disc. xxxii. 79 The Laws, though by their antick language darkned, yet plainly speak. 1680 Burnet Rochester (1692) 170 Vertue is thought an Antick piece of Formality. |
| β 1734 tr. Rollin's Rom. Hist. III. vii. 364 Your integrity is of too antique a cast. 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters II. 5 This antique expression has been..ridiculed by some moderns. 1847 Longfellow Ev. i. i. 74 There stood the broad-wheeled wains and the antique ploughs and the harrows. 1879 M{supc}Carthy Own Time II. xxiii. 188 His loyalty to the Sovereign had something antique and touching in it. |
b. Out of date, behind the time, stale. rare.
| 1755 H. Walpole Lett. H. Mann 261 (1834) III. 89 This will come to you as very antique news. |
4. Of, belonging to, or after the manner of the ancients (of Greece and Rome).
| 1734 J. Richardson in Birch Milton's Wks. 1738 I. 54 All his Images are pure Antique, so that we read Homer and Virgil in reading him. 1819 Byron Juan ii. cxciv, And thus they form a group that's quite antique, Half naked, loving, natural, and Greek. 1842 Mrs. Browning Grk. Chr. Poets 160 The Apollo of the later Greek sculpture-school..placed in a company of the antiquer statues. |
5. Of or after the manner of any ancient time, archaic.
| 1753 Hogarth Anal. Beauty vi. §6. 37 The antique lappets belonging to the head of the Sphinx. 1855 C. Brontë Villette i, Looking down on a fine antique street. 1870 F. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 76 A stiff, stilted, modern bell-cot..breaks the antique charm. |
6. Bookbinding. See antique v. 1.
| Mod. Bookseller's Catalogue, æneids of Virgil..wants title, Antique calf extra. |
7. Typogr. ‘A popular style of display type in which all the lines are of uniform thickness.’ Ringwalt Encycl. Print. 1871.
8. Applied to old furniture, pictures, china, and other articles of virtu, esp. as sought for and collected by amateurs (cf. sense B 4 below); absol. with the, antique articles collectively.
In practice ‘old’ with reference to antiques is frequently interpreted to mean ‘more than 100 years old’.
| 1822 P.O. London Directory 17 Antique furniture and ornamental china dealer. 1851 (title) Antiquarian Gleanings in the North of England, being examples of antique furniture, plate,..etc. drawn and etched by William B. Scott. 1868 H. T. Tuckerman Collector 99 When an ancient dame..drew one [sc. a miniature] of her husband from an antique cabinet. 1877 G. Shrimpton's Oxford Direct. 33 Walford & Son, jewellers, and dealers in antique china. 1888 (title) Antique and Modern Point Lace. 1908 R. & E. Shackleton (title) The quest of the antique, being some personal experiences in the finding of old furniture. |
9. Applied to a type of paper (see quot. a 1912).
| 1890 A. Watt Art of Paper-Making xiv. 157 Some descriptions of paper, as ‘antique’ and ‘old style’, for example, are surfaced with good cardboard instead of copper or zinc plates. a 1912 Paper Terminol. (Spalding & Hodge) ii. 1 Antique, a term originally applied to machine-made papers made in imitation of old handmade printings. It denoted colour and finish. It is now used to describe any good bulking paper with a rough surface. 1958 Times Lit. Suppl. 3 Oct. 567/4 To combine two qualities of paper in the same book, that is to print the text on antique paper and the plates on coated paper. |
B. n. [the adj. used ellipt.; sc. man, thing.]
† 1. A man of ancient times; pl. the Ancients. Obs.
| 1563 J. Shute Archit. A iij a, Vitruuius one of the most parfaictest of all the Antiques. 1578 T. N. tr. Conq. W. India 170 The soles were tied to the upper parte with latchets, as is painted of the Antikes. 1598 W. Phillip Linschoten's Trav. Ind. (1864) 201 Their Shooes they weare like Antiques with cut toes. |
2. A relic of ancient art, or of bygone days.
| 1530 Palsgr. 487/2 If this antique were closed in golde, it were a goodly thing. 1665 Bp. Patrick Par. Pilgr., Consider that old Fashions are wont to come about again, and that we are much in love with Antiques. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xx, His own business..was to collect pictures, medals, intaglios and antiques of all kinds. 1850 J. Leitch Müller's Anc. Art §36 By far the greatest number of antiques, especially statues, were found between 1450 and 1550. |
3. the antique: ancient work in art, antique style.
| 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v., We say an antique building, or a building after the antique. 1859 Gullick & Timbs Paint. 312 The course of drawing from the ‘antique’ is then entered upon. |
4. An article of old furniture, or a picture or piece of china, etc., esp. as sought after and collected by amateurs (cf. sense A 8 above. Freq. attrib. as in antique dealer, antique furnisher, antique shop.
| 1771 J. Wedgwood Let. 13 Jan. (1965) 102 The first will enable us to make Tablets and figures &c without cracking, and the third to make real Antiques you know. 1884 Eng. Illustr. Mag. Dec. 210/1 Brass and copper vessels..many of them shapely as antiques. 1904 Daily Chron. 29 Jan. 8/1 A story told in the ‘antique’ shops shows the cunning of those concerned in the business. 1920 19th Cent. July 166 Morrison was staying with a little antique-dealer in the West of England. |
▪ II. antique
occas. spelling of antic in 16–17th c.
▪ III. antique, v.
(ænˈtiːk)
[f. the adj.]
1. To bind (books) after an antique manner.
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Antiquing, in book-binding, a method of ornamenting the edges of books with divers foliages and ramifications, by means of hot iron tools cut for the purpose. |
2. trans. To give an antique appearance to (furniture, etc.) by artificial means. Hence anˈtiquing vbl. n., anˈtiqued ppl. a.
| 1923 Daily Mail 1 Mar. 8 Having completed the article, he proceeds to do the ‘antiquing’. 1934 E. Bowen Cat Jumps 212 The flat sprang into sight: ‘art’ distemper, six of the World's Best Pictures, the dark sharp angles of antiqued oak. 1959 F. Astaire Steps in Time i. 3 Mr. Shipp claims I am aging him the way you antique furniture, at the rate of several years per week. |