The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms - elder adj.

1) older, senior: My elder brother was born in 1930. 2) venerable, respected, (pre-) eminent; experienced, veteran: Clemenceau was an elder statesman at the Geneva Convention. --n. 3) senior, superior; patriarch, elder statesman, dean, doyen or doyenne: Everyone paid great respect to the elders of the tribe.