Used about a way of doing something that people have done for a very long time, and that is respected precisely because it is old. The age is the point: the custom has been kept, passed on, and never thrown away, and that survival is treated as proof it is worth keeping. 'A time-honoured tradition', 'the time-honoured method of settling an argument'. The normal tone is warm and approving. But listen for the other tone — English speakers very often use it lightly, with a smile, about something silly or something that is really just an old habit: 'they solved it in the time-honoured way, by arguing about it in the pub'. The word sounds a bit grand, so putting it in front of something small is a gentle joke. Written time-honoured in Britain and time-honored in America.