- Dote
- Dote 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.]
[1913 Webster]
He wol make him doten anon right. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
Time has made you dote, and vainly tell Of arms imagined in your lonely cell. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
He survived the use of his reason, grew infatuated, and doted long before he died. --South. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
Sing, siren, for thyself, and I will dote. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
What dust we dote on, when 't is man we love. -- Pope. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
