antiquity

• antiquitie (obsolete)

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.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ænˈtɪk.wɪ.ti/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ænˈtɪk.wə.ti/

• Audio (US)

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antiquity (countable and uncountable, plural antiquities)

1. Ancient times; faraway history; former ages

   Cicero was an eloquent orator of antiquity.

2. The people of ancient times.
   • 1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=1 to 5):

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

3. (obsolete) An old gentleman.
   • 1633 (first performance)​, Ben Jonson, “A Tale of a Tub. A Comedy […]”, in The Works of Ben Jonson, […] (Third Folio), London: […] Thomas Hodgkin, for H[enry] Herringman, E. Brewster, T. Bassett, R[ichard] Chiswell, M. Wotton, G. Conyers, published 1692, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     You are a shrewd antiquity, neighbor Clench.

4. (history) The historical period preceding the Middle Ages (c. 500-1500), primarily relating to European history.
5. (often constructed as an uncountable plural) A relic or monument of ancient times, such as a coin, a statue, etc.; an ancient institution.
6. The state of being ancient or of ancient lineage.
   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     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.

• antiquity in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• “antiquity”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.