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ELDEST
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The offspring who came first in the order of birth
Synonyms:
eldest; firstborn
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("eldest" is a kind of...):
issue; offspring; progeny (the immediate descendants of a person)
Derivation:
eldest (first in order of birth)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
First in order of birth
Example:
the firstborn child
Synonyms:
eldest; firstborn
Classified under:
Similar:
first (preceding all others in time or space or degree)
Derivation:
eldest (the offspring who came first in the order of birth)
Context examples:
A young woman opened the door, who proved to be Mrs. Tangey’s eldest daughter.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
They had not been long married, and their eldest child was but just born.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
These are done by my eldest sister, said he; and you, as a man of taste, will, I dare say, be pleased with them.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
Our family, the Stones, have for many generations belonged to the navy, and it has been a custom among us for the eldest son to take the name of his father’s favourite commander.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He was just entering into life, full of spirits, and with all the liberal dispositions of an eldest son, who feels born only for expense and enjoyment.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
The gardener set his eldest son to watch; but about twelve o’clock he fell asleep, and in the morning another of the apples was missing.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
Henry is the eldest, he was named after me, not after his father.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
This tribe marries only among each other, and the eldest in succession is prince or governor.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
James's coming (my eldest brother) is quite delightful—and especially as it turns out that the very family we are just got so intimate with are his intimate friends already.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
“And that eldest young gentleman, now,” said my aunt, musing, “what has he been brought up to?”
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
