Meaning

noun any of the early patriarchs who lived prior to the Noachian deluge

noun a very old person

adjective of or relating to the period before the biblical flood

originPIE word *dwís From ante- (prefix meaning ‘prior to in time’) + Latin dīluvium (“a flood”) + -an (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives; and forming agent nouns), referring the story of Noah’s Ark, through which God rescues Noah, his family, and examples of all the world’s animals from the great flood, which is related in Genesis 6–9 of the Bible. Dīluvium is derived from dīluō…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0