Emily Dickinson Lexicon

ancient (-er), adj. [Fr. < L. ante, before, former, previous + ān-us, beginning.] (webplay: antiquity, stars, sun).

1. Archaic; outdated; old-fashioned; dilapidated; curiously old; in existence for a very long time.
2. Long-lasting; perennial; enduring through time; having a long history.
3. Former; long-ago; much earlier; bygone; first; previous; ancestral; in the distant past.