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.

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.