age

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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See also: Age, âge, Agë, Åge, -age, and âgé

English[edit]

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 age on Wikipedia

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /eɪd͡ʒ/
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)
  • Audio
    		(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪdʒ

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English age, borrowed from Anglo-Norman age, from Old French aage, eage (Modern French âge), from assumed unattested Vulgar Latin *aetāticum, from Latin aetātem, accusative form of aetās, from aevum (“lifetime”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyu- (“vital force”). Displaced native Middle English elde (“age”) (modern eld; from Old English ieldu, eldo, ieldo (“age”)).

Noun[edit]

age (countable and uncountable, plural ages)

  1. (countable) The whole duration of a being, whether animal, plant, or other kind, being alive.
  2. (countable) The number of full years, months, days, hours, etc., that someone, or something, has been alive.
    • 2013 July 1, Peter Wilby, “Finland’s education ambassador spreads the word”, in The Guardian‎[1], London, archived from the original on 16 July 2017; republished as “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, London, 19 July 2013, page 30:
      Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.
  3. (countable) One of the stages of life.
    the age of infancy
  4. (countable) The time of life at which some particular power or capacity is understood to become vested.
    the age of consent; the age of discretion
  5. (countable) A particular period of time in history, as distinguished from others.
    the golden age; the age of Pericles
    • 1970, Jim Theis, “The Eye of Argon”, in OSFAN‎[2], volume 10, Chapter 3½, page 33:
      Encircling the marble altar was a congregation of leering shamen. Eerie chants of a bygone age, originating unknown eons before the memory of man, were being uttered from the buried recesses of the acolytes' deep lings [sic].
    • 2013 August 3, “Yesterday’s fuel: The world’s thirst for oil could be nearing a peak. That is bad news for producers, excellent for everyone else.”, in The Economist‎[3], volume 408, number 8847, archived from the original on 1 August 2013:
      The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. The first barrels of crude fetched $18 (around $450 at today’s prices). It was used to make kerosene, the main fuel for artificial lighting after overfishing led to a shortage of whale blubber.
  6. (countable) A great period in the history of the Earth.
    the Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age; the Tithonian Age was the last in the Late Jurassic epoch
  7. (countable) A period of one hundred years; a century.
  8. (countable) The people who live during a particular period.
  9. (countable) A generation.
    There are three ages living in her house.
  10. (countable, hyperbolic) A long time.
    It’s been an age since we last saw you.
  12. (countable, geology) A unit of geologic time subdividing an epoch into smaller parts.
  13. (countable, poker) The right of the player to the left of the dealer to pass the first round in betting, and then to come in last or stay out; also, the player holding this position; the eldest hand.
  14. (uncountable) That part of the duration of a being or a thing which is between its beginning and any given time; specifically the size of that part.
    What is the present age of a man, or of the earth?
  15. (uncountable) Mature age; especially, the time of life at which one attains full personal rights and capacities.
    to come of age; she is now of age
  16. (uncountable) An advanced period of life; the latter part of life; the state of being old; eld, seniority.
    Wisdom doesn't necessarily come with age, sometimes age just shows up all by itself.

Synonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Terms derived from age (noun)

Translations[edit]

century — see century
generation — See also translations at generation
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb[edit]

age (third-person singular simple present ages, present participle ageing or (US) aging, simple past and past participle aged)

  1. (transitive) To cause to grow old; to impart the characteristics of age to.
    Grief ages us.
  2. (transitive, figuratively) To postpone an action that would extinguish something, as a debt.
    Money's a little tight right now, let's age our bills for a week or so.
  3. (transitive, accounting) To categorize by age.
    One his first assignments was to age the accounts receivable.
  4. (intransitive) To grow aged; to become old; to show marks of age.
    • 1824, Walter Savage Landor, Imaginary Conversations:
      I am aging; that is, I have a whitish, or rather a light-coloured, hair here and there. Sober thinking brings them
    • 2013 July-August, Stephen P. Lownie, David M. Pelz, “Stents to Prevent Stroke”, in American Scientist:
      As we age, the major arteries of our bodies frequently become thickened with plaque, a fatty material with an oatmeal-like consistency that builds up along the inner lining of blood vessels. The reason plaque forms isn’t entirely known, but it seems to be related to high levels of cholesterol inducing an inflammatory response, which can also attract and trap more cellular debris over time.
    He grew fat as he aged.

Synonyms[edit]

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Danish[edit]

Verb[edit]

age (imperative, infinitive at age, present tense ager, past tense agede, perfect tense aget)

  1. to drive

Further reading[edit]

French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From a dialectal variant of haie, ultimately from Latin haga, borrowed from Frankish *haggju. More at English hedge.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

age m (plural ages)

  1. beam (central bar of a plough)
  2. shaft

Further reading[edit]

Irish[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Preposition[edit]

age

  1. Munster form of ag (used before a possessive determiner)
    • 1939, Peig Sayers, “Inghean an Cheannaidhe”, printed in Marie-Louise Sjoestedt, Description d’un parler irlandais de Kerry, Bibliothèque de l'École des Hautes Études 270. Paris: Librairie Honoré Champion, p. 193:
      Ní raibh aoinne cloinne age n-a muinntir ach í agus do mhéaduigh sin uirrim agus grádh na ndaoine don inghean óg so.
      Her parents had no children but her, and that increased the esteem and love of the people for this young girl.

Japanese[edit]

Romanization[edit]

age

  1. Rōmaji transcription of あげ

Kott[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Yeniseian *ʔaqV (“to make sour, to rot”). Compare Assan bar-ak (“rotten”) and Arin bar-oje (“rotten”).

Adjective[edit]

age

  1. rotten

Related terms[edit]

Latin[edit]

Verb[edit]

age

  1. second-person singular present active imperative of agō

Mapudungun[edit]

Noun[edit]

age (using Raguileo Alphabet)

  1. (anatomy) face

References[edit]

  • Wixaleyiñ: Mapucezugun-wigkazugun pici hemvlcijka (Wixaleyiñ: Small Mapudungun-Spanish dictionary), Beretta, Marta; Cañumil, Dario; Cañumil, Tulio, 2008.

Middle English[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Old Norse agi.

Noun[edit]

age

  1. Alternative form of awe

Etymology 2[edit]

Borrowed from Old French aage, eage, from Vulgar Latin *aetāticum, from Latin aetās.

Alternative forms[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

age (plural ages)

  1. The age of someone (or rarely, something); the amount of time which someone has existed for.
  2. The correct or traditional age for doing something (especially the age of maturity)
  3. The state of being old, elderly, or aged; senescence or old age.
  4. The life of something or someone; the length of time where a person or thing exists.
  5. A period or portion of time; an age, epoch, or era.
  6. Time (as an abstract concept); the passing of time.
  7. (rare, in every age) A person or individual who is of a given or certain age.
Related terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
  • English: age
  • Scots: age
References[edit]

Occitan[edit]

Noun[edit]

age m (plural ages)

  1. age

Old Frisian[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Germanic *augô, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃ekʷ- (“eye, to see”).

Noun[edit]

āge n

  1. eye

Inflection[edit]

Declension of āge (neuter n-stem)
case singular plural
nominative āge āga, āgene, āgne
accusative āge āga, āgene, āgne
genitive āga āgena
dative āga āgum, āgem, āgnum, āgnem

Descendants[edit]

  • North Frisian:
    Föhr-Amrum: uug
  • Saterland Frisian: Ooge
  • West Frisian: each

Portuguese[edit]

Verb[edit]

age

  1. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present indicative of agir
  2. second-person singular (tu, sometimes used with você) affirmative imperative of agir

Scots[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

age (plural ages)

  1. age

Verb[edit]

age (third-person singular present ages, present participle agin, past aged, past participle aged)

  1. to age

References[edit]

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