Dōte1, n.
n. [Lat. dos, dotis, dowry, from dare, to give.]
- A marriage portion; a dowry. [Obs.] See DOT, n. 2. Wyatt.
- (pl.) Natural gifts or endowments. [Obs.] B. Jonson.
3 entries under this word
n. [Lat. dos, dotis, dowry, from dare, to give.]
v. i. [imp. & p. p. DOTED; p. pr. & vb. n. DOTING.] [O. D. doten, N. D. dutten, W. dotio, dotiau; Fr. radoter, O. Fr. redoter, to dote, rave, talk idly or senselessly.] [Written also doat.] 1. 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, . . . and doted long before he died. South. 2. To be excessively or foolishly fond; to love to excess; to be weakly affectionate;—with on or upon. Sing, siren, for thyself, and I will dote. Shak. What dust we dote on when ’tis man we love! Pope.
n. A foolish or weak-minded person; an imbecile; a dotard. Halliwell.