dotard

plural dotards

1. archaicAn old person with impaired intellect; a senile person; one in their dotage.

   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, […]

   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

   5 more examples

   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.

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 223

   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.

   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

   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;—

   1835, William Wordsworth, “The Pass of Kirkstone”, in A Guide through the District of the Lakes

   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!

   1867, W. S. Gilbert, “The Precocious Baby”, in The 'Bab' Ballads, Philadelphia: David MacKay

   Whatever [Donald] 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.

   2017 September 22, Kim Jong Un, quotee, “Statement of Chairman of State Affairs Commission of DPRK”, in KCNA Watch

   Synonyms: mimmerkin

2. obsoleteOne who dotes on another, showing excessive fondness; a doter.