Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Dote?

\Dote\, n. [See {Dot} dowry.] 1. A marriage portion. [Obs.] See 1st {Dot}, n. --Wyatt. 2. pl. Natural endowments. [Obs.] --B. Jonson.
\Dote\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Doted}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Doting}.] [OE. doten; akin to OD. doten, D. dutten, to doze, Icel. dotta to nod from sleep, MHG. t?zen to keep still: cf. F. doter, OF. radoter (to dote, rave, talk idly or senselessly), which are from the same source.] [Written also {doat}.] 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\, n. An imbecile; a dotard. --Halliwell.