Meanings
plural eldfathers
- archaicdialectalOne's grandfather or forefather.
Elof sat with his eyes closed, still in the grip of the thought that he had just heard his eldfathers, all the way back to Adam, chanting at the table.
1975, Frederick Feikema Manfred, The chokecherry tree, page 191 more example
For some reason "rune" continued to be the most attractive of the two, though, truth to tell, there had been no more than the usual mention of the word either in my general reading or in the Frisian (the language of my eldfathers) […]
1994, Frederick Feikema Manfred, Duke's Mixture, page 12 - obsoleteOne's father-in-law.
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Old Englisheald fæder“grandfather, ancestor”
- Middle Englisheldfader
- Englisheldfather
From Middle English eldfader, variant of olde fader, from Old English eald fæder (“grandfather, ancestor”), equivalent to eld (“old”) + father. Cognate with Scots eldfader (“grandfather, father-in-law”), Old Frisian aldafeder (“grandfather”).
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
eldfather. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/eldfather
“eldfather.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/eldfather. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “eldfather,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/eldfather.
Source: eldfather on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.