dote Meaning, Definition & Usage

Dote noun

Etymology

See Dot dowry.

Definitions

1. A marriage portion. Obs. See 1st Dot, n. Wyatt.
2. pl. Natural endowments. Obs. B. Jonson.

Dote intransitive verb

Etymology

OE. doten; akin to OD. doten, D. dutten, to doze, Icel. dotta to nod from sleep, MHG. tzen to keep still: cf. F. doter, OF. radoter (to dote, rave, talk idly or senselessly), which are from the same source.

Wordforms

imperfect & past participle Doted;present participle & verbal noun Doting

Definitions

1. To act foolishly. Obs.

   He wol make him doten anon right. Chaucer.

2. To be weak-minded, silly, or idiotic; to have the intellect impaired, especially by age, so that the mind wanders or wavers; to drivel.

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

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

3. To be excessively or foolishly fond; to love to excess; to be weakly affectionate; -- with on or upon; as, the mother dotes on her child.

   Sing, siren, for thyself, and I will dote. Shak.

   What dust we dote on, when 't is man we love. Pope.

Dote noun

Definitions

1. An imbecile; a dotard. Halliwell.