age (eɪdʒ
)
Definitions
noun
- the period of time that a person, animal, or plant has lived or is expected to live ⇒
the age of a tree
what age was he when he died?
the age of a horse is up to thirty years
- the period of existence of an object, material, group, etc ⇒
the age of this table is 200 years
- a period or state of human life ⇒
he should know better at his age
she had got beyond the giggly age
- ((as modifier) ⇒
age group
- a period or state of human life ⇒
- the latter part of life
- a period of history marked by some feature or characteristic; era
- ((capital when part of a name) ⇒
the Middle Ages
the Space Age
- generation ⇒
the Edwardian age
- geology palaeontology
- a period of the earth's history distinguished by special characteristics ⇒
the age of reptiles
- the period during which a stage of rock strata is formed; a subdivision of an epoch
- a period of the earth's history distinguished by special characteristics ⇒
- mythology any of the successive periods in the legendary history of man, which were, according to Hesiod, the golden, silver, bronze, heroic, and iron ages
- (often plural) informal a relatively long time ⇒
she was an age washing her hair
I've been waiting ages
- psychology the level in years that a person has reached in any area of development, such as mental or emotional, compared with the normal level for his chronological age See also achievement age , mental age
- See age before beauty
- See of age
verb
Word forms: ages, ageing, aging, aged
- to grow or make old or apparently old; become or cause to become old or aged
- to begin to seem older ⇒
to have aged a lot in the past year
- brewing to mature or cause to mature
Word Origin
C13: via Old French from Vulgar Latin aetatīcum (unattested), from Latin aetās, ultimately from aevum lifetime; compare aeonSynonyms
View thesaurus entry=
years,
days,
generation,
lifetime,
stage of life length of life length of existence
span,
duration,
life span,
=
old age,
experience,
maturity,
completion,
seniority,
fullness,
majority,
maturation,
senility,
decline,
advancing years
dotage,
declining years
senescence,
full growth agedness autumn or evening of your life
matureness,
= a long time or while
years,
centuries,
for ever,
aeons,
donkey's years,
yonks,
a month of Sundays,
an age or eternity
-age
Definitions
suffix forming nouns
- indicating a collection, set, or group ⇒
acreage
baggage
- indicating a process or action or the result of an action ⇒
haulage
passage
breakage
- indicating a state, condition, or relationship ⇒
bondage
parentage
- indicating a house or place ⇒
orphanage
- indicating a charge or fee ⇒
postage
- indicating a rate ⇒
dosage
mileage
Word Origin
from Old French, from Late Latin -āticum, noun suffix, neuter of -āticus, adjectival suffix, from -ātus -atefrom Old French, from Late Latin noun suffix, neuter of adjectival suffix, from 1 + + -icus-icQuotations
"Every man desires to live long, but no man would be old"
"The days of our age are threescore years and ten"
Bible: Psalm 90"Youth, which is forgiven everything, forgives itself nothing; age, which forgives itself anything, is forgiven nothing"
"With age, the mind grows slower and more wily"
"Age appears to be best in four things - old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read"
"If I'd known I was gonna live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself"
"Grow old along with me!The best is yet to be"
"Growing old is like being increasingly penalized for a crime you haven't committed"
"There is still no cure for the common birthday"
Translations
- British English:
age
Your age is the number of years that you have lived.She has a nephew who is just ten years of age.eɪdʒ NOUN She has a nephew who is just ten years of age.
- Spanish:
edad
nf
- French:
âge
nm
- German:
Alter
nnt
- Chinese: 年龄 n
- Arabic: عُمْر n
- Portuguese: idade nf
- Russian: возраст nm
- Croatian: dob nf
- Czech: věk nm
- Danish: alder nutr
- Dutch: leeftijd nm
- Finnish: ikä n
- Greek: ηλικία nf
- Italian: età nf
- Japanese: 年齢 n
- Korean: 나이 n
- Norwegian: alder nm
- Polish: wiek nm
- Brazilian Portuguese: idade nf
- European Spanish:
edad
nf
- Swedish: ålder nutr
- Thai: อายุ n
- Turkish: yaş n
- Vietnamese: tuổi n
Usage examples
You get to my age , you don't want to be looking back too much.
, CASCADES - THE DAY OF THE DEAD (2001)I had no idea that it is impossible to date or age a wild lobster.
Country Life (2004)These are question marks at least as valid as the ones the rumour-mongers produce about age catching up with Istabraq.
Irish Times (2002)The mountain bike event at Riverside Business Park in Irvine has races for all age categories from under-12s to over-50s.
Glasgow Herald (2001)One insurance company refused to pay an old-age annuity to a grafted patient, since he had become younger than his chronological age !
, THE MEDICAL MYSTERIES E-OMNIBUS (2001)