▪ I. dote, n.1
[f. dote v.1: with sense 2 cf. MDu. dote folly, weakness of mind.]
† 1. A foolish or weak-minded person; a dotard. Obs.
| a 1250 Prov. ælfred 422 in O.E. Misc. 128 Ich holde hine for dote [v.r. a dote] þat sayþ al his wille. c 1320 Sir Beues 217 Aȝilt þe, treitour ! þow olde dote! c 1460 Towneley Myst. (Surtees) 27 Hit is wonder that I last sich an old dote Alle dold. 15.. Smythe & Dame 325 in Hazl. E.P.P. III. 213 Come forthe, olde dote. 1630 Tinker of Turvey, Seamans T. 103 How did his death-bed make him a doate! |
† 2. A state of stupor; dotage. Obs.
| 1619 Z. Boyd Last Battell (1629) 529 (Jam.) Thus after as in a dote he hath tottered some space about, at last he falleth downe to dust. |
† 3. A piece of folly. Cf. dotery. Obs.
| 1643 Plain English 18 The votes (to them now ridiculous and call'd dotes) passed against them. |
4. Decay in wood. (Cf. dote v.1 4.)
| a 1877 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 564/1 Clear-stuff, boards free from knots, wane, wind-shakes, ring-hearts, dote, sap. 1905 Terms Forestry & Logging 35 Dote, the general term used by lumbermen to denote decay or rot in timber. 1968 Gloss. Terms Timber Preservation (B.S.I.) 9 Dote..is commonly applied to timber that is slightly affected by decay and is not acceptable for certain purposes. |
▪ II. dote, n.2 arch.
(dəʊt)
[app. a. 16th c. F. dote, var. of dot, ad. L. dōt-em (dōs) dowry, see dot n.2]
1. A woman's marriage portion; endowment, dowry. (Now usually superseded by dot from Fr.)
| 1515 Mary Tudor Let. to Hen. VIII, in Facism. Nat. MSS. II. vii, I am contented..to geue you all the hoole dote whiche was delyuered with me. 1538 Starkey England ii. i. 151 To the dote of pore damosellys and vyrgynys. 1676 Coke Circumcision Mustapha in Harl. Misc. (1745) V. 347 Four Millions..of Dollars, which is her Dote. 1753 in Doran ‘Mann’ & Manners (1876) I. xv. 353 She..insisted upon the restitution of her Dote. 1858 Froude Hist. Eng. III. xv. 278 The amount of dotes and dowries..and other legal details, were elaborately discussed. |
† 2. fig. (Usually in pl.) A natural gift or endowment. Obs.
| 1546 Langley Pol. Verg. De Invent. Pref. 4 Through the dotes and qualities of the soule. 1580 Sidney Arcadia iii. (1622) 276 Extolling the goodly dotes of Mopsa. 1656 Jeanes Fuln. Christ 366 Cloathed with four glorious dotes, or endowments, impassibility, subtilty, agility, and clarity. |
▪ III. dote, doat, v.1
(dəʊt)
Forms: 3 dotie(n, doten, 5 doyt(e, doote, 3– dote, 6– doat.
[Early ME. doten, dotien (of which no trace is known in OE.), corresponds to MDu. doten to be crazy or silly, to dote. Kilian has, in same sense, doten, = dutten: cf. mod.Du. dutten to take a nap, to dote, dutter a doter, etc., also MHG. totzen to take a nap (:—*dottôjan), Icel. dotta to nod from sleep.
The LG. stem doten was the source of OF. redoter, mod.F. radoter to rave, dote; the close parallelism of sense between F. radoter, radoté, and Eng. dote, doted, and the presence of Eng. derivatives with F. suffixes, as dotage, dotant, dotery = F. radotage, radotant, radoterie, show an intimate connexion between the F. and Eng. words, as if the latter were immediately from an AF. *doter for OF. redoter.]
I. intr.
1. To be silly, deranged, or out of one's wits; to act or talk foolishly or stupidly.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 224 Heo ualleð..into deop þouht, so þet heo dotie. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 2111 Hu nu, dame, dotestu? 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 403 Me semeth þat þey doteþ [mihi desipere videntur]. c 1440 York Myst. xxxi. 259 Whedir dote we or dremys? 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Acts xxvi. 24 [Felix] sayd with a loude voyce, Thou dotest Paul. 1611 Bible 1 Tim. vi. 4 Doting [Tindale, etc. wasteth his braynes] about questions, and strifes of wordes. 1684 tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. iii. 71 Every evening he..doted. 1798 Coleridge Fears in Solit. v. 171 Others..Dote with a mad idolatry. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus xxxv. 12 She..Doats, as hardly within her own possession. |
2. Now esp. To be weak-minded from old age; to have the intellect impaired by reason of age.
(Formerly only contextual.)
| c 1205 Lay. 3294 Me þunched þe alde mon wole dotie nou nan. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 2404 My fader in elde dotes. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 128/1 Doton, or dote for age, deliro. 1530 Palsgr. 525/2, I dote for age, as olde folkes do, je me radote. 1593 Drayton Eclog. vi. 29 Thou dot'st in thy declining Age. c 1710 C. Fiennes Diary (1888) 301 The parson..is now old and doates. 1819 Crabbe T. of Hall ii. Wks. 1834 VI. 39 We grow unfitted for that world and dote. |
3. To be infatuatedly fond of; to bestow excessive love or fondness on or upon; to be foolishly in love. Const. + of (obs. rare), upon, on.
| 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 129 Thyngis that a prynce ought to eschewe..the therde, dotyng of women. 1530 Palsgr. 525/2 It is a gret madnesse to dote upon an other mans wyfe. 1589 Warner Alb. Eng. vi. xxx. (1612) 149 Not one but wexed amorous, yea euen Diana doted. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. iv. iv. 87 You doate on her, that cares not for your loue. 1623 Massinger Dk. Milan iii. ii, A fine she-waiter..that doted Extremely of a gentleman. 1742 Young Nt. Th. i. 277 How distant oft the thing we doat on most, From that for which we doat, Felicity! 1837 Howitt Rur. Life iii. iv. (1862) 255 Where lies the mother on whom I doated, and who doated on me. |
4. To decay, as a tree. Obs. exc. dial. Cf. doted 2, doting ppl. a. 3, dotard 2.
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 752 The seed of thorn in hit wol dede and dote. 1893 E. Coues Lewis & Clark's Exped. 951 note, In North Carolina..it is said of trees dead at the top, that they are doted, or have doted. |
II. trans.
† 5. To cause to dote; to drive crazy; to befool, infatuate. Obs.
| 1471 Ripley Comp. Alch. v. xxxiii. in Ashm. (1652) 156 Dotyng the Merchaunts that they be fayne To let them go. 1579 Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 652/1 Vse no babbling to dote mens heades vpon. 1580 Sidney Arcadia (1622) 103 If my miserable speeches haue not alreadie doted you. a 1611 Beaum. & Fl. Maid's Trag. iii. ii, Why wilt thou dote thyself Out of thy life? |
† 6. To say or think foolishly. Obs.
| 1555 Eden Decades 46 Hee openinge his mouthe..doateth that the Zemes spake to hym duryng the tyme of his traunce. 1612 T. Taylor Comm. Titus iii. 2 Whatsoeuer the Manichees haue doated to the contrarie. |
† 7. To love to excess; to bestow extravagant affection on. Obs.
| 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 73 b/2 Whan he was olde he so doobted and loued hem. 1673 Rules of Civility 108 Endure a little hunger, and not dote and indulge their appetites as they do. |
▪ IV. dote, v.2 Sc. Now rare.
Also 6 dot, doit.
[a. F. doter (13th c.), ad. L. dōtāre to endow, portion, f. dōt-em. See also dot v.2, in mod. use.]
† 1. trans. To endow with riches, dignities, etc.
| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 188 And dot thame [Kirkmen] with far moir dignitie, Na euir tha had. 1549 Compl. Scot. xvi. 141 Pepil that ar dotit vitht rason. 1620 W. Scot Apol. Narr. (1846) 39 He was not so liberally doted with vnderstanding. 1623 Cockeram, Doted, endowed. |
2. To grant or give as an endowment.
| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 616 How King Malcolome foundit ane Kirk..and doittit to it mony Landis. 1636 Scot. Canons in Laud's Wks. (1853) V. 602 Lands..doted to pious and holy uses. c 1771 in Spectator 4 June (1892) 781/2 A new cup..was presented, or ‘doted’ to the parish. 1864 Tweedie Lakes, etc. of Bible 209 Abila was doted and confirmed to several members of the Herod family. |
▪ V. dote
obs. form of dot.