Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Superannuate \Su`per*an"nu*ate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Superannuated; p. pr. & vb. n. Superannuating.] [Pref. super- + L. annus a year.]
To impair or disquality on account of age or infirmity.
--Sir T. Browne.To give a pension to, on account of old age or other infirmity; to cause to retire from service on a pension.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1630s, "obsolete, out of date;" 1740, "retired on account of old age," from Modern Latin superannuatus, alteration (perhaps by influence of annual) of Medieval Latin superannatus (which meant "more than a year old" and was used of cattle), from Latin super "beyond, over" (see super-) + annus "year" (see annual (adj.)). Earlier in same sense was superannate (c.1600), from Medieval Latin superannatus. Compare French suranner.
Wiktionary
1 obsolete, antiquated. 2 retired or discarded due to age. v
(en-past of: superannuate)
WordNet
adj. discharged as too old for use or work; especially with a pension; "a superannuated civil servant" [syn: retired]
too old to be useful; "He left the house...for the support of twelve superannuated wool carders"- Anthony Trollope [syn: overage, overaged, over-the-hill]
old; no longer in use or valid or fashionable; "obsolete words"; "an obsolete locomotive"; "outdated equipment"; "superannuated laws"; "out-of-date ideas" [syn: obsolete, outdated, out-of-date]
Wikipedia
The adjective superannuated may refer to
- archaic, or old-fashioned
- related to a superannuation ( pension), as used particularly in Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand
- in the military, disqualified for active duty due to age
- someone older than the typical member of a particular social group
Usage examples of "superannuated".
I refused, noways daunted by the repulse, he continued to frisk about me like a superannuated house-dog.
Fell a long, blissful silence, while Dan stared at the sea and permitted his brain to sink into a state off absolute quiescence, and Sooey Wan speculated on the expectancy of life in superannuated Chinamen in general and of himself in particular.
Edwige is happily installed in the new world, where the sexist fashions and disguises of the superannuated Don Juan, his cape and his sword, are laughably out of place.
The next moment the whizzing thing had passed, and left a superannuated old mare looming through a cloud of dust and dancing on two wabbly hind legs.
I made up my mind to laugh at my own expense if I happened to meet a superannuated female.
And worse, Spears knew everyone in the Diplomatic Corps considered him to be a superannuated fool given to breaking the rules and acting outrageously.
Those who speak of the great body of physicians as if they were united in a league to support the superannuated notions of the past against the progress of improvement, have read the history of medicine to little purpose.
Strung along below the city, were a number of decayed, ram-shackly, superannuated old steamboats, not one of which had I ever seen before.
And there sat the superannuated Cardinal Leemus O'Lanners of the Fathers of Padua, in his bright red robes, and also that disgusting pea brain, Bishop Ralphy Bruce Preachintent, who had just passed his chairmanship to Shammar.
While busy at the dump, they were accosted by a strange figure, a woman of tall and stately presence, wearing a paper crown and carrying a staff in her hand, who strode majestically through the avenues of ashes, tin cans, dishonoured wash-boilers and superannuated bathtubs, attended by a rabble of admiring children.
And complexionally superannuated from the bold and courageous thoughts of youth and fervent years.
There was a simple interior at one place,--a small shanty, showing through the open door a cook stove surmounted by the evening coffee-pot, with a lazy cat outstretched upon the floor in the middle distance, and an old woman standing just outside the threshold to see the train go by,--which had an unrivaled value till they came to a superannuated car on a siding in the woods, in which the railroad workmen boarded--some were lounging on the platform and at the open windows, while others were "washing up" for supper, and the whole scene was full of holiday ease and sylvan comradery that went to the hearts of the sympathetic spectators.
I was certain that the same officials who had been responsible for the attitude of the receptionist outside could have had nothing to do with the old, superannuated TAF drill-hacks putting their squads through their paces down below.
Comically, Jamie bowed this way and that as he made his way to the witness-stand, spurs clattering, leather harness creaking like a superannuated farm horse.
The old superannuated mate, a sturdy merchant seaman, seemed greatly dismayed at the successive defeats of his allies, and I believe would have gladly concluded a separate peace.