Reference > Brewer’s Dictionary > Ancient.

 Ancien Régime.Ancient Mariner. 
CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD
E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
 
Ancient.
 
A corruption of ensign—a flag and the officer who bore it. Pistol was Falstaff’s “ancient.”   1
        “Ten times more dishonourably ragged than an old-faced ancient.”—Shakespeare: 1 Henry IV., iv. 21.
        “My whole charge consists of ancients, corporals, lieutenants, gentlemen of companies … .”—Shakespeare: 1 Henry IV., iv. 2.
 


 Ancien Régime.Ancient Mariner. 

 
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