Age

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle)

CIDE DICTIONARY

Age, n. [OF. aage, eage, F. âge, fr. L. aetas through a supposed LL. aetaticum. L. aetas is contracted fr. aevitas, fr. aevum lifetime, age; akin to E. aye ever. Cf. Each.].

•  The whole duration of a being, whether animal, vegetable, or other kind; lifetime.  [1913 Webster]

  "Mine age is as nothing before thee."  [1913 Webster]
•  That part of the duration of a being or a thing which is between its beginning and any given time; as, what is the present age of a man, or of the earth?  [1913 Webster]
•  The latter part of life; an advanced period of life; seniority; state of being old.  [1913 Webster]

  "Nor wrong mine age with this indignity."  [1913 Webster]
•  One of the stages of life; as, the age of infancy, of youth, etc.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]
•  Mature age; especially, the time of life at which one attains full personal rights and capacities; as, to come of age; he (or she) is of age.

  "In the United States, both males and females are of age when twenty-one years old. Some rights, such as that of voting in elections, are conferred earlier."  [1913 Webster]
•  The time of life at which some particular power or capacity is understood to become vested; as, the age of consent; the age of discretion.  Abbott.  [1913 Webster]
•  A particular period of time in history, as distinguished from others; as, the golden age, the age of Pericles.  Prescott.  [1913 Webster]

  "Archeological ages are designated as three: The Stone age (the early and the later stone age, called paleolithic and neolithic), the Bronze age, and the Iron age. During the Age of Stone man is supposed to have employed stone for weapons and implements."  [1913 Webster]

  "Truth, in some age or other, will find her witness."  [1913 Webster]
•  A great period in the history of the Earth.  [1913 Webster]

  "The geologic ages are as follows: 1. The Archæan, including the time when was no life and the time of the earliest and simplest forms of life. 2. The age of Invertebrates, or the Silurian, when the life on the globe consisted distinctively of invertebrates. 3. The age of Fishes, or the Devonian, when fishes were the dominant race. 4. The age of Coal Plants, or Acrogens, or the Carboniferous age. 5. The Mesozoic or Secondary age, or age of Reptiles, when reptiles prevailed in great numbers and of vast size. 6. The Tertiary age, or age of Mammals, when the mammalia, or quadrupeds, abounded, and were the dominant race. 7. The Quaternary age, or age of Man, or the modern era."  Dana.  [1913 Webster]
•  A century; the period of one hundred years.  [1913 Webster]

  "Fleury . . . apologizes for these five ages."  [1913 Webster]
•  The people who live at a particular period; hence, a generation.  Pope.  [1913 Webster]

  "The way which the age follows."  [1913 Webster]

  "Lo! where the stage, the poor, degraded stage,
  Holds its warped mirror to a gaping age."  [1913 Webster]
•  A long time.  Tennyson.  [1913 Webster]
•  the right belonging to the player to the left of the dealer to pass the first round in betting, and then to come in last or stay out; also, the player holding this position; the eldest hand.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

  " Age is used to form the first part of many compounds; as, agelasting, age-adorning, age-worn, age-enfeebled, agelong."  [1913 Webster]

Age of a tide, the time from the origin of a tide in the South Pacific Ocean to its arrival at a given place. -- Moon's age, the time that has elapsed since the last preceding conjunction of the sun and moon.

Syn. -- Time; period; generation; date; era; epoch.

Age, v. i. 

 To grow aged; to become old; to show marks of age; as, he grew fat as he aged.  [1913 Webster]
"They live one hundred and thirty years, and never age for all that."  [1913 Webster]
"I am aging; that is, I have a whitish, or rather a light-colored, hair here and there."  [1913 Webster]

Age, v. t. 

 To cause to grow old; to impart the characteristics of age to; as, grief ages us.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Age, n. & v.
--n.
1 a the length of time that a person or thing has existed or is likely to exist. b a particular point in or part of one's life, often as a qualification (old age; voting age).
2 a colloq. (often in pl.) a long time (took an age to answer; have been waiting for ages). b a distinct period of the past (golden age; Bronze age; Middle Ages). c Geol. a period of time. d a generation.
3 the latter part of life; old age (the peevishness of age).
--v. (pres. part. ageing, aging)
1 intr. show signs of advancing age (has aged a lot recently).
2 intr. grow old.
3 intr. mature.
4 tr. cause or allow to age.

Idiom

age-long lasting for a very long time. age of consent see CONSENT. age of discretion see DISCRETION. age-old having existed for a very long time. come of age reach adult status (esp. in Law at 18, formerly 21). over age
1 old enough.
2 too old. under age not old enough, esp. not yet of adult status.

Etymology

ME f. OF ult. f. L aetas -atis age

DEVIL DICTIONARY

Age

n. That period of life in which we compound for the vices that we still cherish by reviling those that we have no longer the enterprise to commit.

THESAURUS

Age

Bronze Age, Dark Ages, Depression Era, Golden Age, Ice Age, Iron Age, Jacksonian Age, Middle Ages, New Deal Era, Platonic year, Prohibition Era, Silver Age, Steel Age, Stone Age, abidingness, aboriginality, aeon, ages, ancien regime, ancientness, annus magnus, antiquate, antiquity, atavism, become extinct, become obsolete, blue moon, caducity, century, cheat the undertaker, cobwebs of antiquity, constancy, continuance, cycle, cycle of indiction, date, day, days, decline, defeat of time, defiance of time, develop, diuturnity, dodder, durability, durableness, duration, dust of ages, eld, elderliness, eldership, endurance, epoch, era, eternity, fade, fail, florid, fossilize, fust, generation, get along, get on, glacial epoch, great age, great year, grow, grow old, grow up, hoary age, hoary eld, indiction, inveteracy, lastingness, life, lifetime, long, long standing, long time, long while, long-lastingness, long-livedness, longevity, lose currency, maintenance, maturate, mellow, molder, month of Sundays, obsolesce, old age, old order, old style, oldness, outdate, perdurability, perennation, period of existence, perish, permanence, perpetuity, persistence, primitiveness, primogeniture, primordialism, primordiality, right smart spell, ripe, ripen, rust, senectitude, senescence, senility, seniority, shake, shrivel, sink, stability, standing, steadfastness, superannuate, survival, survivance, time, totter, turn gray, turn white, venerableness, wane, waste away, wither, wizen, wrinkle, years, years on end

ROGET THESAURUS

Age

Time

N time, duration, period, term, stage, space, span, spell, season, the whole time, the whole period, space-time, course, snap, intermediate time, while, interim, interval, pendency, intervention, intermission, intermittence, interregnum, interlude, respite, era, epoch, time of life, age, year, date, decade, moment, glass of time, sands of time, march of time, Father Time, ravages of time, arrow of time, river of time, whirligig of time, noiseless foot of time, scythe, continuing, on foot, permanent, while, whilst, during, pending, during the time, during the interval, in the course of, at that point, at that point in time, for the time being, day by day, in the time of, when, meantime, meanwhile, in the meantime, in the interim, ad interim, pendente lite, de die in diem, from day to day, from hour to hour, hourly, always, for a time, for a season, till, until, up to, yet, as far as, by that time, so far, hereunto, heretofore, prior to this, up to this point, the whole time, all the time, all along, throughout, for good, hereupon, thereupon, whereupon, then, anno Domini, A, D, ante Christum, A, C, before Christ, B, C, anno urbis conditae, A, U, C, anno regni, A, R, once upon a time, one fine morning, one fine day, one day, once, time flies, tempus fugit, time runs out, time runs against, race against time, racing the clock, time marches on, time is of the essence, time and tide wait for no man, ad calendas Groecas, panting Time toileth after him in vain, 'gainst the tooth of time and razure of oblivion, rich with the spoils of time, tempus edax rerum, the long hours come and go, the time is out of joint, Time rolls his ceaseless course, Time the foe of man's dominion, time wasted is existence, used is life, truditur dies die, volat hora per orbem, carpe diem.

Period

N period, age, era, second, minute, hour, day, week, month, quarter, year, decade, decenniumm lustrum, quinquennium, lifetime, generation, epoch, ghurry, lunation, moon, century, millennium, annus magnus, horary, hourly, annual.

The Present Time

N the present, the present time, the present day, the present moment, the present juncture, the present occasion, the times, the existing time, the time being, today, these days, nowadays, our times, modern times, the twentieth century, nonce, crisis, epoch, day, hour, age, time of life, present, actual, instant, current, existing, extant, that is, present-day, up-to-date, up-to-the-moment, at this time, at this moment, at the present time, now, at present, at hand, at this time of day, today, nowadays, already, even now, but now, just now, on the present occasion, for the time being, for the nonce, pro hac vice, on the nail, on the spot, on the spur of the moment, until now, to this day, to the present day, the present hour alone is man's.

Oldness

N oldness, age, antiquity, cobwebs of antiquity, maturity, decline, decay, senility, seniority, eldership, primogeniture, archaism, thing of the past, relic of the past, megatherium, Sanskrit, tradition, prescription, custom, immemorial usage, common law, old, ancient, antique, of long standing, time-honored, venerable, elder, eldest, firstborn, prime, primitive, primeval, primigenous, paleolontological, paleontologic, paleoanthropological, paleoanthropic, paleolithic, primordial, primordinate, aboriginal, diluvian, antediluvian, protohistoric, prehistoric, antebellum, colonial, precolumbian, patriarchal, preadamite, paleocrystic, fossil, paleozoolical, paleozoic, preglacial, antemundane, archaic, classic, medieval, Pre-Raphaelite, ancestral, black-letter, immemorial, traditional, prescriptive, customary, whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contr, inveterate, rooted, antiquated, of other times, rococo, of the old school, after-age, obsolete, out of date, out of fashion, out of it, stale, old-fashioned, behind the age, old-world, exploded, gone out, gone by, passe, run out, senile, time worn, crumbling, secondhand, old as the hills, old as Methuselah, old as Adam, old as history, Archeozoic, Proterozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic, Precambrian, Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Tertiary, Paleogene, Neocene, Quaternary, Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene, Recent, since the world was made, since the year one, since the days of Methuselah, vetera extollimus recentium incuriosi.

VB be old, have had its day, have seen its day, become old, age, fade, senesce.

Age

N age, oldness, old age, advanced age, golden years, senility, senescence, years, anility, gray hairs, climacteric, grand climacteric, declining years, decrepitude, hoary age, caducity, superannuation, second childhood, second childishness, dotage, vale of years, decline of life, sear and yellow leaf, threescore years and ten, green old age, ripe age, longevity, time of life, seniority, eldership, elders, firstling, doyen, father, primogeniture, geriatrics, nostology, aged, old, elderly, geriatric, senile, matronly, anile, in years, ripe, mellow, run to seed, declining, waning, past one's prime, gray, gray-headed, hoar, hoary, venerable, time-worn, antiquated, passe, effete, decrepit, superannuated, advanced in life, advanced in years, stricken in years, wrinkled, marked withthe crow's foot, having one foot in the grave, doting, like the last of pea time, older, elder, eldest, senior, firstborn, turned of, years old, of a certain age, no chicken, old as Methuselah, ancestral, patriarchal, gerontic, give me a staff of honor for my age, bis pueri senes, peu de gens savent elre vieux, plenus annis abiit plenus honoribus, old age is creeping on apace, slow-consuming age, the hoary head is a crown of glory, the silver livery of advised age, to grow old gracefully, to vanish in the chinks that Time has made.

VB be aged, grow old, get old, age, decline, wane, dodder, senesce.