elder - Dictionary Definition : Vocabulary.com

An elder is any person who is older than you, which you may know from your sister who is only two years older than you saying, "Listen to your elders!" A church elder is someone who helps run the church, not necessarily its eldest member.

Elder can be used as an adjective: Abel was the elder brother of Cain. Elder can also be a noun: showing respect for one’s elders is a value instilled from a young age by our parents. Elder is also a kind of tree. In Act Five of “Love’s Labour Lost” Shakespeare plays with the meanings of elder: Holofernes says that Berowne should speak first because he is the elder (older), which inspires Berowne to mention the folklore that Judas was hanged on an elder tree.

PRIMARY MEANINGS OF: elder

1	n adj	a person who is older than you are used of the older of two persons of the same name especially used to distinguish a father from his son
2	n	any of various church officers
3	n	any of numerous shrubs or small trees of temperate and subtropical northern hemisphere having white flowers and berrylike fruit

FULL DEFINITIONS OF: elder

1

n a person who is older than you are

Synonyms:: senior

Types:: dean, doyen
a man who is the senior member of a group; doyenne
a woman who is the senior member of a group

Type of:: adult, grownup
a fully developed person from maturity onward

adj used of the older of two persons of the same name especially used to distinguish a father from his son

Synonyms:: older, sr.

: senior
older; higher in rank; longer in length of tenure or service

2

n any of various church officers

Types:: presbyter
an elder in the Presbyterian Church

Type of:: church officer
a church official

3

n any of numerous shrubs or small trees of temperate and subtropical northern hemisphere having white flowers and berrylike fruit

Synonyms:: elderberry bush

Types:: show 6 types...; hide 6 types...; American elder, Sambucus canadensis, black elderberry, sweet elder
common elder of central and eastern North America bearing purple-black berries; fruit used in wines and jellies; Sambucus caerulea, blue elder, blue elderberry
shrub or small tree of western United States having white flowers and blue berries; fruit used in wines and jellies; Sambucus ebulus, danewort, dwarf elder
dwarf herbaceous elder of Europe having pink flowers and a nauseous odor; European elder, Sambucus nigra, black elder, bourtree, common elder, elderberry
a common shrub with black fruit or a small tree of Europe and Asia; fruit used for wines and jellies; American red elder, Sambucus pubens, red-berried elder, stinking elder
common North American shrub or small tree; European red elder, Sambucus racemosa, red-berried elder
Eurasian shrub

Type of:: bush, shrub
a low woody perennial plant usually having several major stems