Definition of "dotage"

dotage

/ˈdoʊtɪd͡ʒ/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural dotages
1. Decline in judgment and other cognitive functions, associated with aging; senility.
  Quotations
  "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.
  1841, Charles Dickens, chapter 1, in The Old Curiosity Shop
2. Fondness or attentiveness, especially to an excessive degree.
  Quotations
  Claudio. And ſhe is exceeding wiſe.Prince. In euery thing, but in louing Benedicke. […] I would ſhee had beſtowed this dotage on mee,
  1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene iii], page 108, column 2
3. Foolish utterance(s); drivel.
  Quotations
  the ſapleſs dotages of old Paris and Salamanca.
  1642 April, John Milton, An Apology for Smectymnuus; republished in A Complete Collection of the Historical, Political, and Miscellaneous Works of John Milton, […], volume I, Amsterdam [actually London: s.n.], 1698, page 193

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