dotage
English
Etymology
dote + -age, from Middle English doten (“to dote”).
Pronunciation
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈdoʊtɪd͡ʒ/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈdəʊtɪdʒ/
Audio (UK) (file)
Noun
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.
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- 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 606515358, [Act II, scene iii], 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,
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- 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 926209975, page 193:
- the ſapleſs dotages of old Paris and Salamanca.
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Synonyms
- (loss of mental acuity associated with aging): second childhood
Translations
senility
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Anagrams
- dogate, goated, togaed
Middle English
Etymology
From doten + -age.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /dɔːˈtaːd͡ʒ(ə)/, /ˈdɔːtad͡ʒ(ə)/
Noun
dotage (uncountable) (Late Middle English)
- Behaviour that is stupid or ill-advised; ridiculousness or insanity:
- Ill-thought or fatuitous love or romantic feelings.
- Weakening of the mind due to age; dotage.
- Disintegration, rotting, or collapsing.
Descendants
- English: dotage
References
- “dōtāǧe, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-08-12.