Venerable in middle age (3)

I believe the answer is:

era

'age' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'venerable in middle' is the wordplay.
'in middle' means to look at the middle letters.
The middle of 'venerable' is 'ERA'.

(Other definitions for era that I've seen before include "Are involved in time span" , "Important date" , "Geological age" , "Period of alteration" , "8" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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