The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word ELDERLY
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
E
L
D
E
R
L
Y
More clues leading to the result ELDERLY
- Old tree, largely hollow
- Foreign articles extremely likely to be getting on
- Silver tree borders on lovely
- Church officer and laity, not content but getting on
- Foreign articles extremely lucky to be getting on
- Old tree, leafy on both sides
- Tree by vacant lavatory is getting old
- Old lady hollowed out tree at the front
- Old tree lay hollowed out
- Going to seed, perhaps — like a tree?
Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "old" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case old = elderly.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does ELDERLY mean?
ELDERLY noun- An elderly person
- (the elderly) older people as a whole
- Old; having lived for relatively many years.
- Of an object, being old-fashioned or frail due to aging.