dotard

Noun

dotard (plural dotards)

1. (archaic) An old person with impaired intellect; a senile person; one in their dotage.
   • 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
   • 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...

   Synonyms:

   mimmerkin

2. (obsolete) One who dotes on another, showing excessive fondness; a doter.