dotage

English

Etymology

From Middle English from doten to dote

Noun

dotage (plural dotages)

1. Decline in judgment and other cognitive functions, associated with aging; senility.
   • 1841, Charles Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop, ch. 1,

     "More care!" said the old man. . . . 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, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, act 2, sc. 3,

     CLAUDIO: And she is exceeding wise.

     DON PEDRO: In every thing but in loving Benedick. . . . I would she had bestowed this dotage on me.

3. foolish utterance; drivel

   The sapless dotages of old Paris and Salamanca. — Milton.

Synonyms

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

Translations

senility

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

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

• French: débilité sénile (fr) f, sénilité (fr) f

• German: Senilität (de) f, Altersschwäche (de) f
• Japanese: 耄碌 (ja) (もうろく, mōroku), もうろく (ja) (mōroku), 認知症 (ja) (にんちしょう, ninchishō)
• Mongolian: зөнөглөх (mn) (zönöglöh) 
• Russian: старческое слабоумие (stárčeskoje slaboúmije) n, старческий маразм (stárčeskij marázm) m

Anagrams

• goated
• togaed