antique

a chair too old to sit on, but too valuable to discard.

some things are based on antiques because the antique did it better. see linux.

Antique, a province of Panay, Phillippine Islands, on the W. Coast; area, with dependent islands, 1,340 square miles; pop. (1903) 131,245, of whom 2,921 were wild; chief native race, Visayan; is rich in minerals.

Entry from Everybody's Cyclopedia, 1912.

An*tique" (#), a. [F., fr. L. antiquus old, ancient, equiv. to anticus, from ante before. Cf. Antic.]

1.

Old; ancient; of genuine antiquity; as, an antique statue. In this sense it usually refers to the flourishing ages of Greece and Rome.

For the antique world excess and pride did hate. Spenser.

<-- p. 66 -->

2.

Old, as respects the present age, or a modern period of time; of old fashion; antiquated; as, an antique robe.

Spenser.

3.

Made in imitation of antiquity; as, the antique style of Thomson's "Castle of Indolence."

4.

Odd; fantastic.

Syn. -- Ancient; antiquated; obsolete; antic; old-fashioned; old. See Ancient.

© Webster 1913.

An*tique" (#), n. [F. See Antique, a. ]

In general, anything very old; but in a more limited sense, a relic or object of ancient art; collectively, the antique, the remains of ancient art, as busts, statues, paintings, and vases.

Misshapen monuments and maimed antiques. Byron.

© Webster 1913.