Ancient of Days

[eyn-shuhnt uhv deyz]

noun

1. the Supreme Being; God.

Ancient of Days

noun

1. a name for God, originating in the Authorized Version of the Old Testament (Daniel 7:9)

Word History and Origins

Origin of Ancient of Days¹

First recorded in 1570–80; from the Book of Daniel 7:9

Example Sentences

Ancient of days! august Athena! where,

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Tall as the sea-kings of old, he stood above all that were near; ancient of days he seemed and yet in the flower of manhood; and wisdom sat upon his brow, and strength and healing were in his hands, and a light was about him.

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Between them they helped the ancient of days out of his crystal cell; it wasn’t hard, for he was as light as paper, and he would have followed them anywhere, having no will of his own, and responding to simple kindness like a flower to the sun.

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With his long, graying hair and extravagant beard, Moore resembles Blake’s mythical creation Urizen, who, in “The Ancient of Days,” crouches outside space-time to measure the universe with a pair of celestial compasses.

Read more on The New Yorker

If he’s the rare Southerner who can’t tell a story, he can tell a poetic joke, sometimes at the expense of his own mystical tendencies, as in “Ancient of Days,” from his latest collection, “Caribou,” published in March by Farrar, Straus and Giroux:

Read more on New York Times