dotage
nounUS /ˈdoʊtɪd͡ʒ/ · UK /ˈdəʊtɪdʒ/
Etymology From Middle English dotage, from doten (“to dote”) + -age; equivalent to dote + -age.
1
Decline in judgment and other cognitive functions, associated with aging; senility.
- "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.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:
2
Fondness or attentiveness, especially to an excessive degree.
- Claudio And ſhe is exceeding wiſe. Prince In euery thing but in louing Benedicke. […] I would ſhee had beſtowed this dotage on mee, […]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:
3
Foolish utterance(s); drivel.
- No leſs are they out of the way in Philoſophy, peſtring their heads with the ſapleſs dotages of old Paris and Salamanca.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:
- Synonyms
- second childhood
- Derived terms
- anecdotage, sacerdotage
- Related terms
- dotard