dotage

Etymology

dote +‎ -age, from Middle English doten (“to dote”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdoʊtɪdʒ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdəʊtɪdʒ/

Noun

dotage (plural dotages)

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

     "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, scene 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(s); drivel.

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

Anagrams

• dogate, goated, togaed