Definition of "dote"

dote

/dəʊt/

verb
third-person singular simple present dotes, present participle doting, simple past and past participle doted
1. (intransitive, usually with on) To be weakly or foolishly fond of somebody.
  Quotations
  Jules doted on Chris, spending hours while Chris was at school assembling vast cities out of microscopic Lego pieces to surprise him when he returned.
  2010, Jennifer Egan, “A to B”, in A Visit from the Goon Squad
2. (intransitive, archaic) To act in a foolish manner; to be senile.
  Quotations
  He survived the use of his reason, grew infatuated, and doted long before he died.
  1692–1717, Robert South, “Ill-disposed Affections , published 1727
  Time has made you dote, and vainly tell / Of arms imagined in your lonely cell.
  1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […]
noun
plural dotes
1. (Ireland) A darling, a cutie.
  Quotations
  But to be sure baby was as good as gold, a perfect little dote in his new fancy bib.
  1922 February, James Joyce, “”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […]
2. (obsolete) An imbecile; a dotard.
  Quotations
  How did his death-bed make him a doate!
  1630, Tinker of Turvey