▪ I. nonage1
(ˈnəʊnɪdʒ)
Forms: 4–5 nownage, 5 noun age, nounage, 5–6 nowne age, noneage, non(e) age, 6 nonai(d)ge, noon aege, nonadge, noonage, 7 nonnage, 6–8 non-age, 5– nonage.
[a. AF. nounage = OF. nonage, f. non- (see non-) + age age n.]
1. The condition of being under age; the period of legal infancy; minority.
In the first quot., app. a payment due to the King when an estate fell to a minor.
| 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeles iv. 6 Ne þe nownagis þat newed him euere, As marche and moubray and many mo oþer. 1424 Plumpton Corr. (Camden) p. l, The farme of our tenants..quilk to us perteyns because of nonage of the heire of Sir Robert Plompton. c 1450 Chron. Eng. ccliii. (Caxton) 326 b, The duk of gloucestre vmfrey the kynges vncle had ben protectour of Englond alle the none age of the kyng. 1523 Act 14 & 15 Hen. VIII, c. 14 §2 That the feoffees or executours..have..the Londes and Tenementes..during the nonage of every such heir. 1633 Earl of Manchester Al Mondo (1636) 121 Christ..went up to the Temple in his Nonage. 1690 Locke Govt. ii. vi. §57 To inform the Mind, and govern the Actions of their yet ignorant Nonage, till Reason shall take its Place. 1768 Blackstone Comm. III. 332 In case of a suit to reverse a fine for non-age of the cognizor, or to set aside a statute or recognizance entered into by an infant. 1821 Scott Kenilw. i, I have..permitted..all of you to use your pleasure with the frolics of my nonage. 1877 C. M. Yonge Cameos IV. xvii. 178 She viewed as invalid all that was done in her brother's nonage. 1892 Stevenson Across the Plains 179 He had passed a riotous nonage. |
† b. Phr. of nonage: minor. at nonage, in nonage: in one's minority. Obs.
| 1484 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 318 If he be a childe of none eage. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Deponere, To committe the money of..children in none age, to the..keping of the citee. 1638 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 109 At that time Zeifadin was King (in nonage) ruled by Atar a spitefull Eunuch. 1715 J. Chappelow Way to get Rich (1717) 171 You are like heirs at non-age. 1788 Reid Active Powers iv. v. 614 Children in nonage act voluntarily. |
c. transf. of plants.
| 1660 Sharrock Vegetables 18 [Plants] able to abide the sharp winter in their nonage. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 497 In their tender Nonage, while they spread Their Springing Leafs. a 1720 J. Hughes Claudianus, That folded in its tender nonage lies, A beauteous bud. |
2. fig. The period of immaturity; the early stage in the growth or development of anything.
| 1584 Lyly Sappho iv. ii. 39 She is in her Nonage for affections. 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) A 2 This booke rudely digested, and then roughly delivered I did in the very nonage thereof recommend unto your patronage. 1639 Fuller Holy War v. xxviii. (1647) 277 The loadstone to draw their affection, (now out of non-age) must present itself necessary. c 1645 Howell Lett. II. lv. (1655) 47 In the nonage of the world, men and beasts had but one buttery which was the fountain and river. 1700 Dryden Fables Pref. *B 2 b, Even after Chaucer there was a Spencer, a Harrington, a Fairfax, before Waller and Denham were in being; And our Numbers were in their Nonage till these last appear'd. 1814 Cary Dante, Inf. xxiv. 1 In the year's early nonage. 1820 Scott Monast. xx, A song, ‘which..the inimitable Astrophel, whom mortals call Philip Sidney, composed in the nonage of his muse’. 1871 Farrar Witn. Hist. iii. 116 Nations outgrew their spiritual nonage. |
3. attrib., as nonage time, nonage youth.
| 1619 T. Taylor Comm. Titus ii. 11 This present world is our nonage time, wherein we must be schooled to these lessons. 1628 Wither Brit. Rememb. vii. 231 Those non⁓age Youths, to whom our Lawes deny A pow'r in things that smaller trust imply. |
▪ II. nonage2
(ˈnəʊnɪdʒ)
[ad. eccl. L. nōnāgium, f. nōn-us ninth: see -age.]
(See quot.)
| 1848 Wharton Law Lex., Nonagium or Nonage, a ninth part of moveables which was paid to the clergy on the death of persons in their parish. |