a. and sb. Also erron. quadri-. [f. L. quadrāgēnāri-us (f. quadrāgēnī distrib. of quadrāgintā forty) + -AN.] a. adj. Forty years old. b. sb. A person forty years of age.
1839. Fraser’s Mag., XX. 752. The quadrigenarians may reasonably object, that as Lord Byron only lived to seven-and-thirty, he could not be a competent judge on this matter.
1892. Stevenson, Vailima Lett., xix. (1895), 184. A stalwart well-oiled quadragenarian.
1897. Sat. Rev., 20 Feb., 195/2. Quadrigenarian critics.
So Quadragenarious a.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Quadragenarious, of or belonging to forty years.
1719. Boyer, Fr.-Eng. Dict., Quadragenaire, quadragenarious, forty years old.
1895. Harper’s Weekly Mag., Feb., 337/2. One of these plumply mellow quadrigenarious bodies.
