dote

See also: doté and dɔte

English

Alternative forms

• doat (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• enPR: dōt
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dəʊt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /doʊt/
• Rhymes: -əʊt

Etymology 1

The verb is derived from Middle English doten, from Middle Low German doten (“to be foolish”) or Middle Dutch doten (“to be silly”). Doublet of doit (Scottish English).

The noun in the sense of "imbecile" is derived from Middle English dote (“simpleton”), itself from doten (see above). The noun in the sense of "darling" and "decay" is derived from the modern verb.

Verb

dote (third-person singular simple present dotes, present participle doting, simple past and past participle doted)

1. (intransitive, stative, usually with on) To be weakly or foolishly fond of somebody.

   Synonyms: adore, love

   Little Bill's parents just keep doting on him.

   • 2010, Jennifer Egan, “A to B”, in A Visit from the Goon Squad:

     Jules doted on Chris, spending hours while Chris was at school assembling vast cities out of microscopic Lego pieces to surprise him when he returned.

2. (intransitive, archaic) To act in a foolish manner; to be senile.
   • 1692–1717, Robert South, “Ill-disposed Affections […] ”, in Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:

     He survived the use of his reason, grew infatuated, and doted long before he died.

   • 1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     Time has made you dote, and vainly tell / Of arms imagined in your lonely cell.

3. (intransitive, of trees, rare or obsolete) To rot, decay.

Derived terms

• (be foolishly fond of): dote over
• (act in a foolish manner): dotard, dotterel
• dotage, fordote

Translations

to be foolishly fond of

• Bulgarian: влюбвам се до уши (vljubvam se do uši)
• Czech: zbožňovat impf
• Dutch: dol zijn op
• Finnish: jumaloida (fi)
• German: schwärmen (de), vernarrt sein, einen Narren fressen, verhätscheln (de)
• Maori: whakamatariki (on a woman), whakamaimoa
• Polish: ubóstwiać (pl) impf (+ accusative), szaleć (pl) impf (za + instrumental)
• Russian: (сле́по (slépo)) обожа́ть (ru) (obožátʹ), души́ не ча́ять (ru) (duší ne čájatʹ) (в (v) + prepositional case)
• Ukrainian: кохати до нестями (koxaty do nestjamy), гинути (hynuty) (за кимсь)
• Welsh: dwlu (cy)

to act in a foolish manner

• Bulgarian: изкуфявам (izkufjavam), оглупявам (bg) (oglupjavam)
• Dutch: dollen (nl)
• Finnish: hölmöillä (fi)
• Russian: выжива́ть из ума́ (vyživátʹ iz umá), впада́ть в ста́рческий мара́зм (vpadátʹ v stárčeskij marázm)
• Turkish: hariflemek
• Ukrainian: втрачати глузд (vtračaty hluzd), дуріти (durity), шаленіти (šalenity)

Noun

dote (countable and uncountable, plural dotes)

1. (countable, Ireland) A darling, a cutie.
   • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[13]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

     But to be sure baby was as good as gold, a perfect little dote in his new fancy bib.

2. (countable, obsolete) An imbecile; a dotard.
   • 1630, Tinker of Turvey:

     How did his death-bed make him a doate!

3. (uncountable, rare) Decay in a tree.

Synonyms

• (dotard): dobby, mimmerkin; see also Thesaurus:dotard

Derived terms

• dodipole
• dotary
• dotel
• dotery
• dotish
• doty

Translations

darling, cutie

• Dutch: schat (nl) f, dot (nl) m or f
• Finnish: söpöläinen (fi)
• German: Liebling (de) m, Schatz (de) m, Schätzchen (de) n
• Russian: мила́шка (ru) f (miláška) (to a girl), ду́шечка (ru) f (dúšečka) (to a girl)
• Spanish: amoroso (es)
• Ukrainian: люба f (ljuba), любця f (ljubcja) (to a girl), любий f (ljubyj), любчик f (ljubčyk) (to a guy), серденько f (serdenʹko)

Etymology 2

From Middle English dote (“endowment”) (c. 1450), from Middle French dote (modern dot), from Latin dos.

Noun

dote (plural dotes)

1. (obsolete) Dowry.

Etymology 3

From Middle French doter, Latin dōtāre.

Verb

dote (third-person singular simple present dotes, present participle doting, simple past and past participle doted)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To endow, donate.

Anagrams

• tode, toed

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɔt/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

dote

1. inflection of doter:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Italian

Etymology

From Latin dotem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɔ.te/
• Rhymes: -ɔte
• Hyphenation: dò‧te

Noun

dote f (plural doti)

1. dowry, dower
2. gift, talent

Related terms

• dotale

Latin

Noun

dōte

1. ablative singular of dōs

References

• "dote", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

Middle English

Etymology 1

A back-formation from doten.

Alternative forms

• doote

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɔːt(ə)/

Noun

dote

1. An idiot or imbecile; a dotard.
2. A senile individual; an elderly person lacking sound mind.

Descendants

• English: dote

References

• “dōte, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-08-12.

Etymology 2

Verb

dote

1. Alternative form of doten

Old Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin dōs, dōtem, from Proto-Italic *dōtis, from Proto-Indo-European *déh₃tis (“act of giving”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdote/

Noun

dote m or f

1. dowry

   Synonyms: arra, arrás

   • ca. 1480, Ordenanzas reales de Castilla. Huete, Álvaro de Castro, 1484. BNM I1338, fol. 243r. , (ed. by Ivy A. Corfis, 1995, Madison: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies):

     E sy fijos non ouiere que pierda todos sus bienes las dos partes para la nuestra camara & la otra terçia parte para acusador. E estos bienes que asy se perdieren se entiendan sacadas las debdas & sacado el dote & arras de su muger.

     And if he does not have issue (children), he shall lose all his possessions. Two thirds shall go to our chamber, and the third to the accuser [of blasphemy]. And by these possessions thus lost, his debts shall be considered solved, along with the dowry and downpayment of his wife.

   • 1491, Alfonso X, Siete Partidas (BNM I 766) , (ed. by Pedro Sánchez Prieto, 2004, Universidad de Alcalá de Henares):

     Ley sesta. como la dote o el arra que resçibe el padre por su fijo o por su fija no deue venir a partiçion entre los otros hermanos.

     Law 6. How the dowry or downpayment that a father receives for [the marriage of] his son or daughter shall not be split among the other siblings.

Descendants

• Spanish: dote

Portuguese

Etymology 1

From Latin dos.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈdɔ.t͡ʃi/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈdɔ.t͡ʃi/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈdɔ.te/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈdɔ.tɨ/

• Rhymes: (Brazil) -ɔt͡ʃi, (Portugal) -ɔtɨ

Noun

dote m (plural dotes)

1. foundation (legacy constituting a permanent fund of a charity)
2. dowry (property or payment given at time of marriage)
3. (figuratively, chiefly in the plural) talent

Related terms

• dotado
• dotal

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

dote

1. inflection of dotar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “dote”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025
• “dote”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdote/ [ˈd̪o.t̪e]
• Rhymes: -ote
• Syllabification: do‧te

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old Spanish dote (“dowry”, masculine or feminine noun), borrowed from Latin dōtem. Doublet of dosis.

Noun

dote f (plural dotes)

1. dowry
2. talent

Related terms

• dotado
• dotal

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

dote

1. inflection of dotar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “dote”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish dote, from Latin dōs.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈdote/ [ˈd̪oː.t̪ɛ]
• Rhymes: -ote
• Syllabification: do‧te

Noun

dote (Baybayin spelling ᜇᜓᜆᜒ)

1. dowry

   Synonyms: bigay-kaya, pasalap, ubad, (dialectal) bilang

Derived terms

• dotehan
• magdote

References

• “dote”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018

Venetan

Noun

dote

1. plural of dota