dotage

English

Etymology

From Middle English dotage, from doten (“to dote”) + -age; equivalent to dote +‎ -age.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdoʊtɪd͡ʒ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdəʊtɪdʒ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Noun

dotage (countable and uncountable, plural dotages)

1. Decline in judgment and other cognitive functions, associated with aging; senility.
   • 1840 April – 1841 November, Charles Dickens, “Chapter the First”, in The Old Curiosity Shop. A Tale. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1841, →OCLC, page 41:

     "More care!" said the old man in a shrill voice, […] 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.

2. Fondness or attentiveness, especially to an excessive degree.
   • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, Much Adoe about Nothing. […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], signature D2, verso:

     Claudio And ſhe is exceeding wiſe.
     Prince In euery thing but in louing Benedicke. […] I would ſhee had beſtowed this dotage on mee, […]

3. 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:

     No leſs are they out of the way in Philoſophy, peſtring their heads with the ſapleſs dotages of old Paris and Salamanca.

Synonyms

• (loss of mental acuity associated with aging): second childhood

Derived terms

• anecdotage
• sacerdotage

 

Translations

senility

• Bulgarian: изкуфяване n (izkufjavane), сенилност (bg) f (senilnost)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 老耄 (zh) (lǎomào), 老迷糊 (lǎo míhú), 失智症 (zh) (shīzhìzhèng)

• Czech: senilnost f
• Dutch: seniliteit (nl), dementie (nl),
• Finnish: vanhuudenhöperöys
• French: débilité sénile f, sénilité (fr) f
• Galician: senilidade (gl) f
• German: Senilität (de) f, Altersschwäche (de) f
• Greek: ξεμώραμα (el) n (xemórama), παλιμπαιδισμός (el) m (palimpaidismós)
• Hungarian: időskor (hu), öregkor (hu), vénség (hu), szenilitás (hu), (szellemi (hu) (literally “mental”)) elgyengülés (hu), leépülés (hu), leépültség, elgyengültség, gyengeség (hu)
• Japanese: 耄碌 (ja) (もうろく, mōroku), もうろく (mōroku), 認知症 (ja) (にんちしょう, ninchishō)
• Maori: pēperekōutanga
• Mongolian: зөнөглөх (mn) (zönöglöx)
• Plautdietsch: Ellaschwakheit f
• Polish: zdziecinnienie n
• Russian: ста́рческое слабоу́мие n (stárčeskoje slaboúmije), ста́рческий мара́зм m (stárčeskij marázm)
• Spanish: senilidad (es), chochez (es) f
• Turkish: ihtiyarlık (tr) sg

Anagrams

• dogate, goated, togaed

Middle English

Etymology

From doten +‎ -age.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɔːˈtaːd͡ʒ(ə)/, /ˈdɔːtad͡ʒ(ə)/

Noun

dotage (uncountable) (Late Middle English)

1. Behaviour that is stupid or ill-advised; ridiculousness or insanity:
   1. Ill-thought or fatuitous love or romantic feelings.
   2. Weakening of the mind due to age; dotage.
2. Disintegration, rotting, or collapsing.

Descendants

• English: dotage

References

• “dōtāǧe, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-08-12.