Obs. or dial. [OE. ald became in WS. eald, whence the later æld, eeld, yeald, ELD; in midl. it became in due course OLD, but remained in the north as ald, auld, mod. dial. aald, aad, aud, in use from Scotland to Shropshire in the W., and Lincolnshire in the E.] The following quotations illustrate the form; for sense see OLD.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Luke i. 18. Ic am ald.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 43. An ald mon.
c. 1340. Hampole, Pr. Consc., 749. Alde men.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, I. 17. Aulde storys that men redys.
1513–75. Diurn. Occurrents (1833), 33. The ald enemies of Ingland.
c. 1620. A. Hume, Brit. Tong. (1865), 28. An ald man sould be wyse.
1790. Burns, Tam o’ Shanter, 15. Auld Ayr wham ne’er a town surpasses.
