Wiktionary

dotard

English

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Etymology

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From Middle English dotard; equivalent to dote +‎ -ard.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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dotard (plural dotards)

  1. (archaic) An old person with impaired intellect; a senile person; one in their dotage.
    Synonyms: mimmerkin; see also Thesaurus:dotard
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 223:
      Dotard, (ſaide he) let be thy deepe aduiſe;
      Seemes that through many yeares thy wits thee faile,
      And that weake eld hath left thee nothing wiſe,
      Els neuer ſhould thy iudgement be ſo frayle,
      To meaſure manhood by the ſword or mayle.
    • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, Much Adoe about Nothing. […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], signature H, verso:
      I ſpeake not like a dotard, nor a foole,
      As vnder priuiledge of age to bragge,
      What I haue done being yong, or what would doe,
      Were I not old, […]
    • 1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, “The Prevailing Opinion of a Sexual Character Discussed”, in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1792, →OCLC, page 58:
      The man who had ſome virtue whilſt he was ſtruggling for a crown, often becomes a voluptuous tyrant when it graces his brow; and, when the lover is not loſt in the huſband, the dotard, a prey to childiſh caprices, and fond jealouſies, neglects the ſerious duties of life, and the careſſes which ſhould excite confidence in his children are laviſhed on the overgrown child, his wife.
    • 1835, William Wordsworth, “The Pass of Kirkstone”, in A Guide through the District of the Lakes‎[1]:
      Lawns, houses, chattels, groves, and fields,
      All that the fertile valley shields;
      Wages of folly--baits of crime,
      Of life's uneasy game the stake,
      Playthings that keep the eyes awake
      Of drowsy, dotard Time;—
    • 1867, W. S. Gilbert, “The Precocious Baby”, in The 'Bab' Ballads‎[2], Philadelphia: David MacKay:
      He early determined to marry and wive,
          For better or worse
          With his elderly nurse,
      Which the poor little boy didn't live to contrive:
          His health didn't thrive—
          No longer alive,
      He died an enfeebled old dotard at five!
    • 2017 September 22, Kim Jong-un, quotee, “Statement of Chairman of State Affairs Commission of DPRK”, in KCNA Watch‎[3]:
      Whatever [Donald J.] Trump might have expected, he will face results beyond his expectation. I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged U. S. dotard with fire.
  2. (obsolete) One who dotes on another, showing excessive fondness; a doter.

Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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References

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Further reading

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Middle English

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Etymology

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From doten +‎ -ard.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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dotard (plural dotardes)

  1. A dotard; someone who displays senility.
    • 14th C., Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, "The Wife of Bath's Prologue," lines 285-92, [4]
      Thou seist, that oxen, asses, hors, and houndes, / They been assayed at diverse stoundes; / Bacins, lavours, er that men hem bye, / Spones and stoles, and al swich housbondrye, / And so been pottes, clothes, and array; / But folk of wyves maken noon assay / Til they be wedded; olde dotard shrewe! / And than, seistow, we wol oure vices shewe.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
  2. A fool or simpleton; someone who displays stupidity.

Descendants

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  • English: dotard

References

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