dotage
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From dote + -age, from Middle English doten (“to dote”).
Pronunciation
[edit]- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈdoʊtɪd͡ʒ/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈdəʊtɪdʒ/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Noun
[edit]dotage (countable and uncountable, plural dotages)
- Decline in judgment and other cognitive functions, associated with aging; senility.
- 1841, Charles Dickens, chapter 1, in The Old Curiosity Shop:
- "More care!" said the old man. […] There were in his face marks of deep and anxious thought which convinced me that he could not be, as I had been at first inclined to suppose, in a state of dotage or imbecility.
- Fondness or attentiveness, especially to an excessive degree.
- 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], page 108, column 2:
- Claudio. And ſhe is exceeding wiſe.
Prince. In euery thing, but in louing Benedicke. […] I would ſhee had beſtowed this dotage on mee,
- Foolish utterance(s); drivel.
- 1642 April, John Milton, An Apology for Smectymnuus; republished in A Complete Collection of the Historical, Political, and Miscellaneous Works of John Milton, […], volume I, Amsterdam [actually London: s.n.], 1698, →OCLC, page 193:
- the ſapleſs dotages of old Paris and Salamanca.
Synonyms
[edit]- (loss of mental acuity associated with aging): second childhood
Translations
[edit]senility
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Anagrams
[edit]Middle English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]dotage (uncountable) (Late Middle English)
- Behaviour that is stupid or ill-advised; ridiculousness or insanity:
- Disintegration, rotting, or collapsing.
Descendants
[edit]- English: dotage
References
[edit]- “dōtāǧe, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-08-12.
Categories:
- English terms suffixed with -age
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- Middle English terms suffixed with -age
- Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns
- Middle English uncountable nouns
- Late Middle English
- enm:Age
- enm:Love
- enm:Mind
- enm:People