ancient

& s. [Fr. ancien; Sp. anciano; Ital. anziano, from anzi before. Cognate with Lat. antiquus = old, ancient; antic us = in front, foremost; and ante = before.] A. As adjective: L. Ordinary Language. 11. Old, estimated tacitly or explicitly by the standard of human life. (a) Pertaining to persons advanced in years. (Opposed to young .) 64 Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house." - Ezek . ix. 6. (b) Pertaining to things which have existed for some considerable time in one's history. (Opposed to recent.) "But they, upon their ancient malice, will Forget with the least cause, these his new honours." Shakesp.: Coriolanus , ii. 1. 2. Old, estimated by the average duration of that to which the term ancient is applied. some far-spreading wood Of ancient growth." Cowper: Task, bk. 1. an ancient castle overgrown with weeds and ivy.-Macaulay: Hist. Eng., ch. xvi. 3. Old, estimated by the historic standard of time. (a) Opposed to modern, and especially referring, at the present day, to the centuries anterior to the fall of the Roman Empire. (In this sense, which is the most common use of the word, it is opposed to modern .) "The whole history of ancient and of modern times records no other such triumph of statesmanship."Macaulay: Hist . Eng ., chix ch. ix. (b) In the mouth of one who lived at an early period of the world's history, it meant an age prior to his own. "Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days?"- Isa . xxiii. 7. 4. Old, estimated by the geological standard of duration. "Proce es now going on in nature on a small scale, or imitated artificially by man, may enable us to comprehend imperfectly in what manner some of these infinitely grander ancient metamorphoses were effected."-Murchison: Siluria , ch. i. 5. From eternity. "Thales affirms that God comprehended all all things, t and that God was of all things the most ancient , because he never had any beginning."-Raleigh. The words ancient and old are akin in meaning, and it is not easy to draw an absolutely precise line between their respective significations. Old , being opposed to new , is especially used of anything which is fresh when new, but has a tendency to wear out when old, or has nearly reached its proper term of existence, as an old hat; but it is also used when the lapse of time has increased instead of diminished the value of an article, as old wine. So also we speak of the old masters, meaning those who lived long ago, not those who are advanced in years. Finally, old generally indicates a le er amount of duration than ancient . [OLD.] IL. Technically: In Law: (a) Ancient demesnes or ancient domains: Such manors as, after the survey the results of which were recorded in Doomsday book, were found to belong to the Crown. ( Cowel .) IMG:content-0509.png:[blocks in formation] * 2. A predece or in anything. "He toucheth it as a special pre-eminence of Junias and Andronicus, that in Christianity they were his ancients."- Hooker . The reference is to Paul's statement, "Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen and my fellow-prisoners,.. who also were in Christ before me." e." (Rom. xvi. 7.) 3. ( Plur .) Those who lived long ago. Το us in general this means before the fall of the Roman empire, the relapse into semi-barbarism which followed its overthrow making a great gap in time between the civilisation of what may be called the old world and that now existing. In this sense, ancients is opposed to moderns . This is the common use of the word. Sir G. Cor new all Lewis employs it thus in the title of his book, The Astronomy of the Ancients. "Some by old words to fame have made pretence, Ancients in phrase, mere moderns in their sense." Pope: E ay on Criticism , 324, 325. To those who lived in the early ages of the world, of course the term signified men of a considerably prior date. "As saith the proverb of the ancients. 1 Sam . xxiv. 18. 4. The Being existent from eternity. ... "I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit."- Dan . vii. 9 (see also verses 18, 22). * ( a ) B. Technically . In the Inns of Court. In the Middle Temple , those who had pa ed their readings. (b) In Gray's Inn , the oldest barristers, the society consisting of benchers, ancients, barristers, and students under the bar. (c) In the Inns of the Chancery, the division is into ancients and students, or clerks. (Wharton: Law Lexicon, ed. Will.)