dote
to bestow or express excessive love or fondness habitually (usually followed by on or upon): They dote on their youngest daughter.
to show a decline of mental faculties, especially associated with old age.
decay of wood.
Origin of dote
1Other words from dote
- doter, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use dote in a sentence
Her little boy, born just before his father's death, and upon whom she doated, was a magnificent piece of still life.
Country Lodgings | Mary Russell MitfordDry material statements presented the reality she doated to think of.
The Amazing Marriage, Complete | George MeredithHow she doated on Leonard, the most commonplace and unattractive of young men!
Mount Royal, Volume 1 of 3 | Mary Elizabeth BraddonI have doated on you—pined for you—and passion—passion only—will I accept, or bear from you.'
Self-control | Mary BruntonBut this truculent Salwager assured me seriously that he had ‘doated on them,’ and promised me the first pair they should hatch.
Two Suffolk Friends | Francis Hindes Groome
British Dictionary definitions for dote
now rarely doat
/ (dəʊt) /
(foll by on or upon) to love to an excessive or foolish degree
to be foolish or weak-minded, esp as a result of old age
Origin of dote
1Derived forms of dote
- doter or now rarely doater, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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