old-farrant

comparative more old-farrant · superlative most old-farrant · alternative old-farrand · alternative old-farant

1. UKdialectalOld or old-fashioned; (of children) precocious, already as shrewd as someone old.

   Whiles he came home: weary old-farrant face Pale from the midnight candle;

   1866, Robert Williams Buchanan, Idyls and Legends of Inverburn, page 41

   3 more examples

   "Ye'd best stand asoide; Ride your old-farrant face behind yon ellum, Hear all, and see your Parish judge the nobs!"

   1894, Punch, volume 107, page 267

   They sought and searched as for hid treasure; and she was precious in many hearts, the playful little chatterbox with her old-farrant ways, and her bonnie smile!

   1911, The Expository Times, volume 22, page 210

   […] and stately clocks made in the town a hundred years ago, and quaint old-farrant lamps and cogeys and sand-glasses that apologized […]

   1913, James Matthew Barrie, Tommy and Grizel, page 298