eldership

Noun

eldership (countable and uncountable, plural elderships)

1. The position of being elder or senior; seniority, precedence of birth, primogeniture.
   • Primogenitura, or eldership of birth, was greatly respected by God.1549, R. Parsons, Confer. Success, volume I, chapter vi, page 128
   • My claim to her by Eldership I prove.1667, Dryden, Ind. Emperor, chapter i, page 11
2. (nonce-word) The personality of an elderly person.
   • So irresistible to their elderships to be flattered.1748, Richardson, Clarissa, volume IV, published 1811, page 90
   • The pilgrim answered that he sought admittance to the intent that he should be found of service. Whereat there brake forth exceeding much laughter; at the subsiding whereof one Shootbolt demanded whereabout should be his eldership’s age?1843, Master Bernard M⸻ of S⸻, “The Smartists” (vision vii, pages 23–26), in A Dream of a Queen’s Reign, London: John Templeman, ccxlviii, regent street, page 24
3. The office or position of elder in a church.
   • The office of eldership is equallie distributed betweene the bishop and the minister.1577, Harrison, England, II.v, published 1877, chapter i, page 109
   • He was deposed from his Eldership.1655, Fuller, Ch. Hist., volume IX, chapter vi, § 52
4. The collective body of (ecclesiastical) elders; a body or court of elders, a presbytery.
   • That gyft, which was geuen thee by prophecie with the laying on of the handes, by the Eldership.1557, “First Epistle to Timothy”, in New Testament, Geneva, chapter iv, verse 14
   • They that tyrannize not over, but be subject to their particulare elderships.1634–1646, Row, Hist. Kirk, published 1824, page 66
5. The smallest administrative division in Lithuania, equivalent to a ward.
   • The local governmental system in Lithuania has passed through several changes since the restoration of independence, and its future is still being debated. There are three levels of local government: apskritys (plural apskritis, usually translated as “counties”); municipalities; and elderates...2010, Clive Carpenter, “Lithuania: Government”, in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland (World and its peoples. Europe; 8), New York: Marshall Cavendish, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 1,096/2
   • Article 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania states that the State of Lithuania is an independent democratic republic. The territory of Lithuania is divided into ten counties. Countries^([sic]) are subdivided into sixty municipalities. Municipalities may be divided into elderships.2022, Indrė Žvaigždinienė, “General Introduction: General Information” (chapter 1), in Environmental Law in Lithuania, 2nd edition, Alphen aan den Rijn: Kluwer Law International, →ISBN, unnumbered...

   Synonyms:

   elderate