dotage
(ˈdəʊtɪdʒ)
[app. f. dote v.1 or n.1 + -age. Cf. F. radotage.]
1. The state of one who dotes or has the intellect impaired, now esp. through old age; feebleness or imbecility of mind or understanding; infatuation, folly; second childhood; senility. Also transf.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1425 Þenne a dotage ful depe drof to his hert. c 1386 Chaucer Wife's Prol. 709 Thanne sit he doun, and writ in his dotage, That wommen kan nat kepe hir mariage. c 1430 Lydg. Hors, Shepe & G. 156, I trowe he be falle in Dotage. 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 158 Y⊇ absurde dotage of him that thinketh ther is no god. 1618 Bolton Florus iii. vii. (1636) 194 Hee had the reward of his dotage, for the Cretensians intercepted most part of his navie. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xiv, The world is in its dotage. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 472 Now fast sinking into dotage. |
b. A foolish or imbecile thought, word, or deed; a folly or stupidity.
| a 1529 Skelton Replyc. 272 Deullysshe pages, Full of suche dottages. 1636 Prynne Unbish. Tim. (1661) 89 This..is a notorious dotage and untruth. 1772 Fletcher Logica Genev. 47 Enemies to his antinomian dotages. 1825 Coleridge Aids Refl. (1848) I. 233 note, A specimen of these Rabbinical dotages. |
2. The action or habit of doting upon any one; foolish affection; excessive love or fondness.
| c 1440 Partonope 4768 She ganne no nye fall wyth hym in dotage. 1470–85 Malory Arthur iv. i, Merlyn felle in a dottage on the damoisel. 1513 More Rich. III (1883) 59 For a litle wanton dotage vppon her parson. 1699 Burnet 39 Art. xxii. (1700) 242 A most excessive dotage upon them. 1814 Byron Corsair ii. xiv. 66 Oh! that this dotage of his breast would cease! |
b. An object doted upon, or regarded with excessive fondness.
| 1662 Cokaine Ovid i. iii. Dram. Wks. (1874) 224 You shall..Become Jove's dotage, and be Queen of heaven. 1821 Byron Sardan. ii. i, He loved that gay pavilion,—it was ever His summer dotage. 1845 Whitehall ii. 7 Being his father's dotage. |