old′ age′

the last period of human life, now often considered to be the years after 65.

[1300–50]

old′-age′, adj.

Old Age

old age, when a person may be prone to regale others with anecdotes about his past. [A humorous blend of anecdote and dotage.]

anility

the condition of behaving like an old woman, used especially of men. Cf. senility.

caducity

decrepit old age; senility.

gerascophobia

the fear of growing old.

geratology

the study of the decline of life, as in old age. — geratologic, geratological, geratologous, adj.

geriatrics

1. the science dealing with the diseases, debilities, and care of aged persons.
2. the study of the physical process and problems of aging; gerontology. — geriatrie, adj. — geriatrist, geriatrician, geriatry, n.

gerocomy

gerontology.

gerodontics

a dental specialty concerned with the care and treatment of the dental problems of the aged. — gerodontist, n.

geromorphism

the condition of appearing older than one is.

gerontology

the branch of science that studies aging and the special problems of the aged. Also called gerocomy. — gerontologist, n. — gerontological, adj.

nonagenarianism

the state of being in one’s nineties. — nonagenarian, n., adj. — nonagenary, adj.

nostology

Medicine, Obsolete, the study of senility.

octogenarianism

the state of being in one’s eighties. — octogenarian, n., adj. — octogenary, adj.

opsimathy

Rare.
1. a late education.
2. the process of acquiring education late in life.

senicide

the killing off of the old men in a tribe. — senicidal, adj.

senility

1. the state or quality of being old, especially, being afflicted with the infirmity of body and mind that sometimes comes with old age.
2. Informal. a condition of weakness of mind and body, usually associated with advanced age, characterized by the inability to remember simple, recent events, general confusion and bewilderment, and increasing debility. Cf. anility. — senile, adj.

septuagenarianism

the state of being in one’s seventies. — septuagenarian n., adj. — septuagenary, adj.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

old age - a late time of life; "old age is not for sissies"; "he's showing his years"; "age hasn't slowed him down at all"; "a beard white with eld"; "on the brink of geezerhood"

eld, geezerhood, years, age

time of life - a period of time during which a person is normally in a particular life state

mid-sixties, sixties - the time of life between 60 and 70

mid-seventies, seventies - the time of life between 70 and 80

mid-eighties, eighties - the time of life between 80 and 90

mid-nineties, nineties - the time of life between 90 and 100

dotage, second childhood, senility - mental infirmity as a consequence of old age; sometimes shown by foolish infatuations

old age

noun declining years, age, senility, advancing years, dotage, Third Age, senescence, eld (archaic), elderliness, agedness, autumn or evening of your life They worry about how they will support themselves in their old age.
youth, childhood, adolescence, early life, immaturity, young days, juvenescence

Quotations
"I am grown peaceful as old age tonight."
"I regret a little, would change still less" [Robert Browning Andrea del Sarto]
"Do not go gentle into that good night,"
"Old age should burn and rave at close of day;"
"Rage, rage against the dying of the light" [Dylan Thomas Do not go gentle into that good night]
"Old age is the most unexpected of all the things that happen to a man" [Leon Trotsky Diary in Exile]
"sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything" [William Shakespeare As You Like It]

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

شَيْخوخَه

alderdom

hohes Alter

γηρατειά

vejez senectud

vanhuus

vieillesse troisième âge

starost

öregkor

gamals aldur, elli

vecchiaia

alderdom

starost

ihtiyarlıkyaşlılık

晚年

old age

n → vecchiaia
in one's old age → nella vecchiaia

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

old

(əuld) adjective

1. advanced in age. an old man; He is too old to live alone.

2. having a certain age. He is thirty years old.

3. having existed for a long time. an old building; Those trees are very old.

4. no longer useful. She threw away the old shoes.

5. belonging to times long ago. old civilizations like that of Greece.

old age

the later part of a person's life. He wrote most of his poems in his old age.

old boy/girl

a former pupil (of a school). The new prime minister is an old boy of our school.

ˌold-ˈfashioned adjective

in a style common some time ago. old-fashioned clothes; Her hairstyle is very old-fashioned.

old hand

a person who is very experienced. He's an old hand at this sort of job.

old maid

an unmarried woman who is past the usual age of marriage.

the old

old people. hospitals for the old.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

And now, when weighed down by the pains and aches of old age, when the head inclines to the feet, when the beginning and ending of human existence meet, and helpless infancy and painful old age combine to- gether--at this time, this most needful time, the time for the exercise of that tenderness and affection which children only can exercise towards a declining parent--my poor old grandmother, the devoted mother of twelve children, is left all alone, in yonder little hut, before a few dim embers.

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At the time I now write of, Father Mapple was in the hardy winter of a healthy old age; that sort of old age which seems merging into a second flowering youth, for among all the fissures of his wrinkles, there shone certain mild gleams of a newly developing bloom --the spring verdure peeping forth even beneath February's snow.

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I know whom I may bully and whom I must flatter; and I thus prolong my life to a good old age."

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That the question therefore was not, whether a man would choose to be always in the prime of youth, attended with prosperity and health; but how he would pass a perpetual life under all the usual disadvantages which old age brings along with it.

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As for my own self, let me live long and happily, seeing the light of the sun, and come to the threshold of old age, a man prosperous among the people.'

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Two short poems here rendered -- namely, "Peaceful Old Age" and "The Penalties of Rank" -- give us a glimpse of the poet in his old age, conscious of decaying powers, glad to be quit of office, and waiting with sublime faith in his Taoist principles to be "one with the pulsings of Eternity".

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Also, Bwikov has an aunt who is at her last gasp through old age, and may die before our departure.

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And thus, perhaps, there was something in Grandfather's heart that cheered him most with its warmth and comfort in the gathering twilight of old age. He had been gazing at the red embers as intently as if his past life were all pictured there, or as if it were a prospect of the future world, when little Alice's voice aroused him.

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A few bones to gnaw in our toothless old age. But the back-fat, the kidneys, and the tongues - these shall go into other mouths than thine and mine, old man."

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The Folk never lived to old age. Middle age was fairly rare.

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Everything told of long use and quiet slow decay; the very bell-rope in the porch was frayed into a fringe, and hoary with old age.

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They cut off three of his toes, but the others recovered so that he was still able to work and went on living for another twenty years, first as a farm-labourer, then in his old age as a watchman.

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