antiquity

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   Ancient times; faraway history; former ages.

   Cicero was an eloquent orator of antiquity.

2. 2
   noun

   The people of ancient times.

   That such pillars were raised by Seth all antiquity has avowed.

3. 3
   noun

   An old gentleman.

   You are a shrewd antiquity, neighbor Clench.

4. 4
   noun

   A relic or monument of ancient times, such as a coin, a statue, etc.; an ancient institution.

   New video released by ISIS shows militants smashing what they say are antiquities at a museum in Mosul, Iraq.

5. 5
   noun

   The state of being ancient or of ancient lineage.

   He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, […], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.

6. 6
   noun

   an artifact surviving from the past

7. 7
   noun

   extreme oldness

8. 8
   noun

   the historic period preceding the Middle Ages in Europe

Etymology

From Middle English antiquyte, antiquite, antiquytee, a borrowing from Old French antiquité, antiquitet, from Latin antiquitas, from antiquus. Equivalent to antique + -ity. See antique, antic. Compare with French antiquité.