Old Style

English

Noun

Old Style (uncountable)

1. (historical) The Julian calendar system, especially with reference to Russia, where it continued to be used until the early 20th century.
   • 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 16:

     The banded ones were all dressed in white gowns — a gay survival from Old Style days, when cheerfulness and May-time were synonyms — days before the habit of taking long views had reduced emotions to a monotonous average.

   • 1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 10, page 244:

     As the [Manx] people reckon this festival according to the Old Style, Hollantide in the Isle of Man is our twelfth of November.

2. (historical) A dating system in which March 25 is the New Year's Day.

Coordinate terms

• New Style