| 释义 |
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. c1386Chaucer Wife's Prol. 709 Thanne sit he doun, and writ in his dotage, That wommen kan nat kepe hir mariage. c1430Lydg. Hors, Shepe & G. 156, I trowe he be falle in Dotage. 1579Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 158 Y⊇ absurde dotage of him that thinketh ther is no god. 1618Bolton Florus iii. vii. (1636) 194 Hee had the reward of his dotage, for the Cretensians intercepted most part of his navie. 1766Goldsm. Vic. W. xiv, The world is in its dotage. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 472 Now fast sinking into dotage.
b. A foolish or imbecile thought, word, or deed; a folly or stupidity.
a1529Skelton Replyc. 272 Deullysshe pages, Full of suche dottages. 1636Prynne Unbish. Tim. (1661) 89 This..is a notorious dotage and untruth. 1772Fletcher Logica Genev. 47 Enemies to his antinomian dotages. 1825Coleridge 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.
c1440Partonope 4768 She ganne no nye fall wyth hym in dotage. 1470–85Malory Arthur iv. i, Merlyn felle in a dottage on the damoisel. 1513More Rich. III (1883) 59 For a litle wanton dotage vppon her parson. 1699Burnet 39 Art. xxii. (1700) 242 A most excessive dotage upon them. 1814Byron Corsair ii. xiv. 66 Oh! that this dotage of his breast would cease!
b. An object doted upon, or regarded with excessive fondness.
1662Cokaine Ovid i. iii. Dram. Wks. (1874) 224 You shall..Become Jove's dotage, and be Queen of heaven. 1821Byron Sardan. ii. i, He loved that gay pavilion,—it was ever His summer dotage. 1845Whitehall ii. 7 Being his father's dotage. |