venerable
\ VEN-er-uh-buhl \ ,
adjective;
1.commanding respect because of great age or impressive dignity; worthy of veneration or reverence, as because of high office or noble character: a venerable member of Congress.
2.a title for someone proclaimed by the Roman Catholic Church to have attained the first degree of sanctity or of an Anglican archdeacon.
3.(of places, buildings, etc.) hallowed by religious, historic, or other lofty associations: the venerable halls of the abbey.
4.impressive or interesting because of age, antique appearance, etc.: a venerable oak tree.
5.extremely old or obsolete; ancient: a venerable automobile.
noun:
1.a venerable person.
Quotes:
And oh, to think that he should have disobeyed and practised on that sweet, that venerable gentleman, whose name he bore; that kind and tender guardian; his more than father—to say nothing at all of mother—horrible, horrible!
-- Charles Dickens, "The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit," 1843-1844
...one would think that to look on while a pair of venerable hands pressed such young heads, and a venerable face looked upward for a blessing on them, would be very likely to make the heart swell gently, and to moisten the eyes.
-- George Eliot, "Scenes of Clerical Life," 1857
Origin: Venerable first appeared in English in the 1400s from the Latin venerari meaning "to worship or revere."
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