| 释义 |
▪ I. age, n.|eɪdʒ|
Also 4–6 aege, 5 eage, 5–6 aage, 6 aige.
[a. OFr. aäge, eäge, (11th c.) edage (Pr. atge):—late L. *ætāticum (analogous to umbrāticum, viāticum, volāticum, etc.), f. ætāt-em age, contr. from ævi-tātem, n. of quality f. ævum an age. The OFr. word was of 3 syllables, but in the earliest recorded instances in Eng. it was already reduced to 2; Caxton's eage, aage being later attempts to restore the Fr. spelling. The mod.Fr. âge and Eng. age retain only the (lengthened) termination of the OFr. ed-age, e-age. See -age.]
I. A period of existence.
1. The time that any animal or vegetable has lived; the length of time that anything has existed in its present form or state; length of existence.
c1325E.E. Allit. P. A 412, I watȝ ful ȝong & tender of age. c1384Chaucer H. Fame 1986 In al myn age Ne saugh y suche an hous as this. 1477Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 92 The said Alexander began to regne in the xviij yer of his eage. 1559Myrroure for Mag., Dk. York xi. 3 Prudent for their age. 1611Bible Mark v. 42 Shee was of the age of twelue yeeres. 1665–9Boyle Occas. Refl. ii. xi. (1675) 133 Those, who are of the same age with me. 1751Chambers Cycl. s.v., The age of a hart, etc., is chiefly judged of by the furniture of his head. 1831Census Quest. in Penny Cycl. VI. 414/1 How many persons (including children of whatever age) are there actually found within the limits of your parish?
b. moon's age: number of days since the occurrence of the new moon. So day's age, year's age, etc.
1636Massinger Bashf. Lov. iv. i, Of what age is the day? 1751Chambers Cycl. s.v. Moon, To find the Moon's age:—To the day of the month add the epact of the year, and the months from March inclusive. The sum, if under 30—if over, the excess—is the moon's age.
c. age and area: designating a theory that the area occupied by a culture, language, animal species, etc., is a measure of its antiquity.
1915J. C. Willis in Phil. Trans. R. Soc. CCVI. 337 Genera will obviously tend to follow the age and area rule more closely than species. 1922― Age & Area vi. 62, I called this hypothesis, that on the average the area occupied by species in a country depended upon their age within that country, by the convenient jingle of ‘Age and Area’. 1922J. Small in J. C. Willis Age & Area xiii. 126 Inequalities more or less cancel out when the genera are taken in groups of ten or more as specified for the Age and Area hypothesis.
d. Expostulatory phr. be (less commonly act) your age: behave as becomes your years, i.e. in a responsible manner; don't be childish. orig. U.S.
1925New Yorker 26 Sept. 18/2 (caption) Be Your Age. 1931E. Linklater Juan in America ii. i. 63 Aw, be your age! 1932Amer. Speech June 328 Act your age, ‘don't be childish’; ‘stop the foolishness’. 1933Punch 11 Jan. 29/3 Son. Aw shucks! Doancher know nuttin'? Cummawn, be yerr age, Paw. 1948‘N. Shute’ No Highway iii. 70 Do you think the Inspection would have let this aircraft fly if there was any danger of that sort of thing? Be your age. 1951S. Kaye-Smith Mrs. Gailey ix. 180 Rosamund..spoke irritably. ‘Oh, be your age!’
e. of an age: of the same age. Const. with.
1934H. G. Wells Exper. Autobiogr. I. iii. 105, I got more mental stimulus from some of my school-fellows who were of an age with me. Ibid. II. viii. 627 We were both about of an age; to be exact he was six months younger than I.
f. at one's age: when one is of a particular age; of an age: old enough to (do something).
1896Belloc Bad Child's Bk. Beasts 5 A manner rude and wild Is common at your age. 1916G. B. Shaw Androcles & Lion i. 9 The men, if of an age to bear arms, will be given weapons to defend themselves..against the Imperial Gladiators. 1919― Heartbreak Ho. i. 28 Do you suppose that at my age I make distinctions between one fellow creature and another? 1961C. G. L. Du Cann Love-Lives Charles Dickens x. viii. 189 It is true that the eldest boy Charles was of an age to be flying off and building a nest of his own.
2. The whole duration of the life or existence of any being or thing; the ordinary duration of life.
1535Coverdale Ps. lxxxix. 10 The dayes of oure age iij score yeares and ten. 1611Bible Gen. xlvii. 28 The whole age of Iacob was an hundred fourtie and seuen yeeres. 1703Rowe Fair Penit. v. i. 1811 Shortens her Father's Age, and cuts him off. 1853Encycl. Brit. I. 233 The age of man has greatly diminished from his first creation. Ibid. 234 Of the ages of the lower animals little is known.
3. Such duration of life as ordinarily brings body and mind to full development; years of maturity or discretion, or what by law or custom are fixed as such. full age, in Eng. Law, 21 years; hence the expressions of (at, to obs.) age, under (within obs.) age, nonage. age of discretion, 14 years.
1382Wyclif John ix. 21 Axe ye him, he hath age, speke he of himsilf. c1430Syr Tryamoure 690 Of justyng canste thou ryght noght, For thou art not of age. 1509Fisher Wks. 38 Till they come to aege in the ungracyous custome of synne. 1528Perkins Profit. Bk. v. §327 (1642) 144 If I dye, my heire within age. 1721Cibber Rival Fools i. i. (1754) II. 1 Sir, I'm no Boy, I have been at Age this Half-year. 1788Johnson Lett. I. cxxviii. 278 To hinder my dear Harry from mischief when he comes to age. 1809Tomlins Law Dict. II. E 1/1 Nor can any lord of parliament sit there, until he be of the full age of twenty-one years. Ibid., Nonage, in general understanding, is all the time of a person's being under the age of 21. 1832H. Martineau Demerara i. 4 The freedom which is so precious to young people when they reach what appears to them the age of discretion. Mod. When did he come of age?
4. Hence, Any particular length of life which naturally or conventionally qualifies for anything. (Usually with over (past arch.), under.)
c1315Shoreham 63 Of ham that scholde y-wedded be Her the age thou myȝt lerne. 1382Wyclif Heb. xi. 11 Sare bareyn took vertu into conseyuing of seed, ȝhe, bi sydis, or withoute [1388 aȝen] the tyme of age. 1526Tindale ibid., When she was past age. [So in Genev., 1611, and Revised.] a1884Mod. This is the candidate's last chance; in another year he will be over age. There is no limitation of age for this prize.
5. A naturally distinct portion of the existence of a man or other being; a period or stage of life.
1489Caxton Faytes of Armes i. ix. 22 In tyme to come of theyre flowryng aage. 1534Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) C ij b, The fearefulle dedes and enterpryses doone by Caius Jul. Cesar in his yonge age. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. vii. 143 One man in his time playes many parts, His Acts being seuen ages. 1602― Ham. iii. iv. 68 At your age The hey-day in the blood is tame. 1611― Wint. T. iv. iv. 108 They are giuen To men of middle age. 1736Bailey (Fol.) s.v. The Life of Man is divided into four different Ages, Infancy, Youth, Manhood, Old Age. 1751Chambers Cycl. s.v., The Age of puberty commences at 14, and ends at about 25. c1815Wordsworth To Yng. Lady, An old age serene and bright, And lovely as a Lapland night.
6. esp. The latter part of life, when the physical effects of protracted existence become apparent; old age.
1330R. Brunne Chron. 114 A gode clerk wele in age. 1380Sir Ferumb. 3481 Y am sumdel stryken in age. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. xxvii. (1495) 788 Houndes in aege haue the Podagre. 1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xi. xxxvi, Who in youth lyst nothyng to lerne, He wyl repent hym often in hys age. 1599Shakes. Pass. Pilgr. xii, Crabbed age and youth cannot live together. 1602― Ham. v. i. 79 Age with his stealing steps, Hath caught [v.r. claw'd] me in his clutch. a1631Donne Sat. iii, Age, death's twilight. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iv. xii. 217 Many grow old before they arrive at age. 1718Pope Iliad i. 96 Thus spoke the prudence and the fears of age. 1770Goldsm. Des. Vill. 100 A youth of labour with an age of ease. 1842Tennyson Grandmother xxv, Age is a time of peace, So it be free from pain. 1858Sears Athan. xiv. 122 The moroseness and peevishness of age.
b. Cards. The ‘eldest hand’ in the game of poker.
1882C. Welsh Poker; how to play it 47 Before the dealer begins to deal the cards, the player next to his left, who is called the ante-man, or age, must deposit in the pool an ante not exceeding one-half the limit previously agreed upon. 1889Guerndale Poker Bk. v. 33 It would be C's place to bet first, he being to the left of the Age.
7. The physical effects or qualities themselves; oldness, senility. Of things: Maturity.
c1460Cov. Myst. 139 Hese leggys here do folde for age. 1509Fisher Wks. 294 For aege and febleness. 1599Shakes. Much Ado iii. v. 37 When the age is in, the wit is out. 1611Bible Ecclus. xxx. 24 Carefulnesse bringeth age before the time. 1859J. Lang Wander. India 383 Bring several bottles of our Madeira, for theirs I do not like..It has not age. 1877L. Morris Hades i. 50 The failing ear and eye, the slower limbs, Whose briefer name is Age.
II. A period of time.
8. The period of time contemporary with the lifetime of any one; the generation of men to which any one belongs. (Used in fixing a date, but not as a measure.)
1330R. Brunne Chron. 61 Malcolm mad homage tille Edward our kyng, Þat he and alle his age of Ingland sald hold þat þing. 1557N. T. (Genev.) Mark xiii. 30 This age shal not passe, tyl all these thynges be done. 1611Bible Transl. Pref. 5 S. Hierome..the best linguist without controuersie, of his age. c1735Pope Donne Sat. iv. 2 Adieu to all the follies of the age. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 183 What, in our age, would be called gross perfidy and corruption. 1876Freeman Norm. Conq. III. xi. 72 A dabbler in arts and sciences beyond his age.
9. A lifetime taken as a measure of time; a generation.
1535Coverdale Ps. cxliv. 13, & thy dominion endureth thorow out all ages. 1651Hobbes Leviathan iii. xxxiii. 203 The Writers of the New Testament lived all in lesse then an age after Christ's Ascension. 1718Free-thinker No. 19. 128 A Duke is..not to be seen in a Countrey-Church above once in an Age. 1853Encycl. Brit. II. 233 Nestor is said to have lived three ages when he was ninety years old.
10. A long but indefinite space of time, marked by the succession of men.
c1400Destr. Troy Prol. 6 Off aunters ben olde of aunsetris nobill, And slydyn vppon shlepe by slomeryng of Age. 1590Marlowe 1st Pt. Tamburl. i. i. 6 Unhappy Persia, that in former age Hast been the seat of mighty Conquerors. 1611Bible Eph. iii. 5 Which in other ages was not made knowen vnto the sonnes of men. 1654Chapman Alphonsus Pl. 1873 III. 212 H'as tane his leaue of me for age and age. 1816J. Wilson City of Plague i. i. 39 But one dread year Hath done the work of ages. 1860Tennyson Locksley Hall 137 Yet I doubt not thro' the ages one increasing purpose runs.
b. often loosely in exaggeration. Also in pl.
1590Shakes. Mids. N. v. i. 33 To weare away this long age of three houres. 1627Feltham Resolves i. xlvii. (1677) 75 In the dead age of night. a1704T. Brown Lett. Wks. 1730 I. 178 This very minute seems an age. 1813Jane Austen Pride & Prej. xvii. 76 The two ladies were delighted to see their dear friend again, called it an age since they had met. 1889W. S. Gilbert Gondoliers ii. 32 As at home we've been remaining—We've not seen you both for ages. 1922Joyce Ulysses 742, I suppose he died of galloping drink ages ago.
c. occas. used for a century. (Cf. Fr. siècle.)
1594Blundeville Exerc. iii. i. xxxvi. (ed. 7) 352 The space of an hundred yeeres, called in Latine seculum, and in English an age. 1635E. Pagitt Christianogr. iii. (1636) 11 The end of the tenth, and beginning of the eleventh Age, after the incarnation. 1749Wesley Wks. 1872 X. 43 For they [Jerome and Hilarion] did not live within the first three ages. 1848Lowell Fable Poet. Wks. 1879, 149/2 Be true to yourselves and this new nineteenth age.
11. Hist. Any great period or portion of human history distinguished by certain characters real or mythical, as the Golden Age, the Patriarchal Age, the Bronze Age, the Age of the Reformation, the Middle Ages, the Prehistoric Age.
1297R. Glouc. 9 Of þe world..þe firste age & tyme was from oure firste fader Adam to Noe. 1552Lyndesay Monarche ii. 1948 Of Weris, said he the gret outtrage Began in to the secunde aige. 1610Shakes. Temp. ii. i. 168, I vvould vvith such perfection gouerne Sir, T'Excel the Golden Age. 1697Dryden Virgil, Past. iv. 5 The last great Age, foretold by sacred Rhymes. 1736Bailey (Fol.), The Generality of Chronologers agree in making seven Ages [of the World] or Periods. 1818Hallam (title) A View of the state of Europe during the Middle Ages. 1865Tylor Early Hist. Man. 193 The Stone Age falls into two divisions, the Unground Stone Age, and the Ground Stone Age.
12. Geol. A great period or stage of the history of the Earth, distinguished by its leading physical features; an æon.
1855Kingsley Glaucus (1878) 25 The Ice Age or Glacial Epoch. 1857H. Miller Test. Rocks i. 53 In the Oolitic ages insects become greatly more numerous.
III. Comb., as age-class, age-determination, age-distribution, age-fellow, age-grade (hence age-grading vbl. n.), age-limit, age-range, age-scale, age-set, age-war; age-ago, age-cold, age-new, age-proof, age-weary, adjs.; also combs. in which age stands in objective relation to a pr. pple., as age-adorning, age-dispelling; or in instrumental relation to a pa. pple., as age-cracked, age-despoiled, age-dimmed, age-encamped, age-enfeebled, age-established, age-gnarled, age-honoured, age-moulded, age-peeled, age-stricken, age-worn, etc.; or in limiting relation to a pple. or adj., as age-coeval, age-lasting, age-long, q.v. Also ˈage-group, a number of persons or things classed together as of similar age; hence age-grouping vbl. n.; ˈage-hardening Metallurgy, (of certain alloys) the process or result of ageing; ageman obs., an old man; ageless, age-mate, age-prier, q.v.
1923Kipling Irish Guards in Gt. War I. 325 That *age-ago retreat from Mons.
1905Terms Forestry & Logging 6 *Age class, all trees in a stand whose ages are within given limits. 1920R. H. Lowie Primitive Society xi. 302 Schurtz..is as certain of the uniform priority of age-classes when compared with clubs or secret organizations as Morgan is of the necessary priority of matrilineal descent. 1929Age-Class [see age-fellow].
1846Hawthorne Mosses i. vii. 163 Lifelong and *age-coeval associations.
1950W. de la Mare Inward Comp. 86 Cliffs of *age-cold stone.
1850Mrs. Browning Poems II. 378 A beldame's *age-cracked voice.
1926R. W. Lawson tr. Hevesy & Paneth's Man. Radioactivity xxvi. 216 *Age determination from the Helium content.
1832W. C. Bryant Poems 57, I shall see the day..with an *age-dimmed eye.
1909Cent. Dict. Suppl., *Age-distribution. 1934Planning I. xxvii. 5 The death-rate like the birth-rate, has fallen fast in recent years, and here again the age-distribution of the population must be considered as well as the crude rate.
1913Kipling Songs from Books 157 *Age-encamped Oblivion Tenteth every light that shone!
1807J. Barlow Columbiad v. 531 Their maim'd, their sick, their *age-enfeebled sires.
1925R. Graves Welchman's Hose 49 *Age-established brooks run dry.
1929N. & Q. Anthrop. (ed. 5) ii. 56 Those *Age-Fellows who have been initiated together may be looked upon as an Age-Set or Age-Class. 1954J. G. Peristiany in Instit. Prim. Soc. iv. 44 To-day the council of elders, which includes..age-fellows of the wrong⁓doer, puts a collective curse on his head.
1933W. de la Mare Fleeting 101 The *age-gnarled thorn.
1906N. W. Thomas Kinship Organisations i. 2 The other kind of association, to which the name *age-grades is applied, is composed of a series of grades, through which..each man passes in succession, until he attains the highest. a1942B. Malinowski Sci. Theory Culture (1944) v. 50 Studying an Australian tribe, we would have to follow the small family groups..the age-grades, and totemic clans.
1948K. Davis Human Soc. (1959) iv. 107 Reliance upon *age-grading is very prominent in African societies. 1950C. F. Hockett in Language XXVI. 449 (title) Age-grading and linguistic continuity.
1904Gen. Rep. Census Eng. & Wales 1901 147 The following Table, which gives the proportions of blind per million living at the earlier *age-groups, shows [etc.]. 1930Times Educ. Suppl. 7 June 257/2 The public elementary school age-group 10 to 11. 1936J. T. Jenkins Fishes Brit. Is. (ed. 2) 177 Probably the best method of determining the growth and age-groups..is by measuring large numbers of individuals caught together on the same ground. 1937Proc. Prehist. Soc. III. 182 To divide the sites into three age-groups merely by observing their heights above modern sea-level.
a1942B. Malinowski Sci. Theory Culture (1944) vi. 57 More frequently the organization according to sex is related to..*age groupings or age-grades.
1921Hanson & Gayler in Jrnl. Inst. Metals XXVI. 345 The extent of the *age-hardening which takes place is roughly proportional to the amount of magnesium silicide in solution at the moment of quenching. 1932Discovery May 145/1 After quenching in water from about 475°–500° C. its [duralumin's] strength increases with time. This is known as ‘age-hardening’ which is now recognized as an extremely important phenomenon, not confined to this type of alloy.
1839Bailey Festus xxxii. (1848) 352 Between eternity and time a lapse..*age-lasting.
1898Strand Mag. XV. 331/2 It is doubtful whether the inexorable *age limit will not preclude his inclusion in the next Conservative Ministry. 1917Aberdeen Univ. Rev. June 259 The raising of the upper age limit [for examinees] to twenty or twenty one.
1570–1in Eccl. Proc. Durham (Surt. Soc.) 225 Wm. Walker is an *aidgeman and broken in labour.
1925D. H. Lawrence St. Mawr 77 The rocks..heavy with *age-moulded roundnesses.
1938R. Graves Coll. Poems 176 Time was my chronicler, my deeds *age-new.
1839Bailey Festus xxvii. (1848) 325 *Age-peeled pinnacles.
1928Daily Express 7 Nov. 4 Annette Kellermann..demonstrates..that she is practically *age-proof.
1929Nat. Soc. for Study of Educ. Yearbk. XIV. 695 The chief concern of adults should be to make sure that..the *age-range is kept fairly narrow.
1908W. McDougall Introd. Soc. Psychol. iv. 109 The time of ripening of any instinct..is liable to be shifted forwards or backwards in the *age-scale during the course of racial evolution.
1929*Age-set [see age-fellow]. 1940E. E. Evans-Pritchard Nuer vi. 255 The age-set system is a further exemplification of the segmentary principle. 1954J. G. Peristiany in Instit. Prim. Soc. iv. 40 The initiation rituals..provide him with an age-set; that is, with a group of age-mates who remain his social co-evals through life.
1815Scott Ld. of Isles i. Introd., Some *age-struck wanderers gleans few ears of scatter'd grain.
1932Wyndham Lewis Doom of Youth iv. i. 201 The ‘*Age-War’ is really a Father-and-Children-war.
1895W. B. Yeats Poems 147 And demons have lifted The *age-weary eyelids from the eyes that of old Turned gods to stone.
1836Todd Cycl. Anat. I. 805/1 The infirm and *age-worn patients of Salpetrière. 1851Hawthorne Twice-told T. II. xix. 267 So age-worn and woful are they. 1933W. de la Mare Fleeting 135 An image of age-worn stone.
Add:[III.] age gap, a difference or disparity between the ages of persons; see gap n.1 6 a and generation gap s.v. generation n. 7.
1963A. Heron Towards Quaker View of Sex 60 The child finds himself to be..isolated because of a large *age gap. 1983J. Kelman Not, not while Giro 91 There was an age gap between them right enough.
Add:[III.] age-dating n., a process of establishing the age of geological deposits, archaeological remains, etc., by means of scientific examination of samples of them; also, a date ascertained by such a process.
1959Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer. LXIX. 1574 (title) Radioactive *age dating and its petrologic implications for some Georgia granites. 1963Special Paper Geol. Soc. Amer. No. 73 95 More than 1000 age datings on precambrian rocks of North America have been compiled. 1974F. J. Sawkins et al. Evolving Earth iii. 65 The 40K–40Ar method has been a favorite for age dating.
hence (as a back-formation) age-date v. trans.
1984Oil & Gas Jrnl. 15 Oct. 154/1 The Nonesuch formation, whole rock Rb-Sr *age dated by Chaudhuri and Faure (1967) as 1075 {pm}50 million years. 1988T. Ferris Coming of Age in Milky Way (1989) i. xiii. 251 The scientist who comes along years later to age-date their remains is..reading a clock that started when the host died.
age-dated ppl. a., (a) classified or classifiable by age; spec. marked with a date that enables a person to know the age of a product; (b) dated by means of age-dating.
1983N.Y. Times 26 Dec. a18/1 Americans' speech is *age-dated. 1984A. C. & A. Duxbury Introd. World's Oceans iii. 84 Research done on age-dated layers of volcanic rock shows that the polarity..reverses. 1991Los Angeles Times 28 Nov. (San Diego County ed.) (N. County Focus section) 3 Items are shipped within days of manufacture to ensure freshness. In fact each item is age-dated and the spa will replace any unused product after one year.
age spot = liver spot s.v. liver n. 7; also fig. and transf., a sign of age.
1955Mademoiselle Jan. 44/3 (Advt.), These horrid *age spots... Weathered brown spots on the surface of your hands and face... Fade them away with new Esoterica. 1989B. Mukherjee Jasmine (1990) ii. 12 Then I took his big pink hand, speckled with golden age spots. 1990San Francisco Chron. 16 Feb. e20/5 Nelder says that it's a ‘seriously flawed’ bit of legislation, although if it's that flawed it's hard to understand why she wanted to delay its consideration back in September. Did it develop age spots? 1992Atlanta Jrnl. 11 Sept. 3/1 For age spots on antique mirrors, rub with a wad of paper moistened with denatured alcohol.
▪ II. age, v.|eɪdʒ|
[f. the prec. n.]
1. intr. To grow old; to become aged.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xv. lxxiii. (1495) 516 Other men there ben in Inde that lyue ful longe and aegen neuer. 1440Promp. Parv., Agyn, or growyn agyd, Seneo, senesco. 1530Palsgr. 418/2 Thought maketh men age a pace. 1673Grew Anat. Plants ii. i. ii. §2 (1682) 61 The other [skin] Postnate, succeeding in the room of the former, as the Root ageth. 1833Praed Poems (1865) I. 405 Queen Mab is ageing very fast. 1861Pearson Early & Mid. Ages Eng. 393 He [Henry II] stooped slightly and grew fat and gouty as he aged.
2. trans. To make old, to cause to grow old.
1636Earl of Manchester Contempl. Mort. 182 A man might age himselfe in it, and sooner grow old than weary. 1839Bailey Festus (ed. 3) 12/2 Grief hallows hearts even while it ages heads. 1856Kane Arct. Explor. I. xv. 173 An Arctic night and an Arctic day age a man more rapidly and harshly than a year anywhere else.
3. Calico-printing. To fix the mordants and printed colours in (cloth, etc.) by the process of ageing. Also intr., to undergo this process. So aged ppl. a.
1849[see ageing vbl. n. 2]. 1862C. O'Neill Dict. Calico Printing 8/1 The difference of appearance will be..in favour of the aged or exposed part. 1890W. J. Gordon Foundry 177 The calico..has to be dried and aged. 1910E. Knecht et al. Man. Dyeing (ed. 2) II. 649 The dyeing of aged blacks. 1912Knecht & Fothergill Textile Printing 138 If they [sc. the goods] are simply printed in aluminium mordants, one day may be quite sufficient to fully ‘age’ them. Ibid. 141 It is preferable to let them ‘age’ for a day or two in pile before dyeing.
4. trans. To mature by keeping in storage, by exposing to the air, etc.
1852Swindells & Nicholson Brit. Pat. 390 1 For oxydating metallic solutions, and for ageing and raising various colouring matters. 1854W. E. Staite Brit. Pat. 468 2 Madder which, technically speaking, has not been ‘aged’.
5. To calculate or determine the age of (something), esp. scientifically; to assign an age to. Cf. date v. 2 e.
1887M. H. Hayes Soundness & Age of Horses vi. 94 If a colonial animal in, say, September showed the condition of mouth just described, we should age him as five years old. 1954Vermont Life Spring 49 The forester is able to age trees by studying the growth rings or annuli. 1970Nature 23 May 692/1 These dykes have been radiogenically aged at 2,420 million years. 1971Country Life 24 June 1577/1 (caption) Ageing a section of a tree.
6. intr. Of iron, the iron core of an electrical transformer: to suffer a continuously increased loss in hysteretic quality.
1896[implied in ageing vbl. n. 4]. 1899S. R. Roget in Proc. R. Soc. 23 Jan. 154 Brands of transformer steel, which are practically ‘non-ageing’. 1902Encycl. Brit. XXVIII. 121/1 Brands of steel are now obtainable which do not age in this manner.
▸ intr. U.S.to age out: to pass the upper age limit for something. Freq. with of. Also occas. trans.: to force (a person) to retire on the grounds of age.
1953Lima (Ohio) News 17 May 8 b/1 They are usually destined to retire as colonels, or perhaps get one star as they are aged-out. 1955Frederick (Maryland) Post 12 July 2/1 The Frederick Little League All-Stars team..for two successive years swept to the state championship..then aged out of the Little classification. 1957Daily Times-News (Burlington, N. Carolina) 29 Jan. b1/1 (caption) Hugh Cummings, charter member of the Jaycees who has aged out. 1988Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 20 Nov. v. 5 By 1980, that crime wave had lost its force as the baby boomers ‘aged out’ of crime. 2004D. S. Tanenhaus Juvenile Justice in Making iii. 79 A growing number of the children were staying in institutions until they turned eighteen and aged out of the system. |