elderships

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
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
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
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
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

   Synonyms:

   elderate