What is the meaning of elder?

noun

• A person who is older than you are.
  • synonyms: senior
• Any of numerous shrubs or small trees of temperate and subtropical northern hemisphere having white flowers and berrylike fruit.
  • synonyms: elderberry bush
• Any of various church officers.

adjective

• Used of the older of two persons of the same name especially used to distinguish a father from his son.
  • usage: "Bill Adams, Sr."
  • synonyms: older, sr.
• Used especially of persons. ( having lived for a relatively long time or attained a specific age)
  • usage: "his mother is very old"; "a ripe old age"; "how old are you"
  • synonyms: old
• Of long duration; not new.
  • usage: "old tradition"; "old house"; "old wine"; "old country"; "old friendships"; "old money"
  • synonyms: old
• Used for emphasis. ( very familiar)
  • usage: "good old boy"; "same old story"
  • synonyms: old
• Skilled through long experience.
  • usage: "an old offender"; "the older soldiers"
  • synonyms: old, older
• Belonging to some prior time.
  • usage: "erstwhile friend"; "our former glory"; "the once capital of the state"; "her quondam lover"
  • synonyms: erstwhile, former, old, onetime, one-time, quondam, sometime
• Used informally especially for emphasis. ()
  • usage: "a real honest-to-god live cowboy"; "had us a high old time"; "went upriver to look at a sure-enough fish wheel"
  • synonyms: honest-to-god, honest-to-goodness, old, sure-enough
• Of a very early stage in development.
  • usage: "Old English is also called Anglo Saxon"; "Old High German is High German from the middle of the 9th to the end of the 11th century"
  • synonyms: Old
• Just preceding something else in time or order.
  • usage: "the previous owner"; "my old house was larger"
  • synonyms: previous, old