age
♦♦♦ age /'eɪdʒ/ (ages ageing aging aged)
The spelling aging is also used, mainly in American English.
1 [N-VAR]
Your age is the number of years that you have lived.
She has a nephew who is just ten years of age...
At the age of sixteen he qualified for a place at the University of Hamburg...
I admired him for being so confident at his age.
2 [N-VAR]
The age of a thing is the number of years since it was made.
Everything in the room looks in keeping with the age of the building.
3 [N-UNCOUNT]
Age is the state of being old or the process of becoming older.
Perhaps he has grown wiser with age...
The fabric was showing signs of age...
4 [VERB] V, V n
When someone ages, or when something ages them, they seem much older and less strong or less alert.
He had always looked so young, but he seemed to have aged in the last few months...
He was only in his mid-thirties, but already worry had aged him.
5 [N-COUNT] usu with supp
An age is a period in history.
...the age of steam and steel.
...items of Bronze Age pottery.
6 [N-COUNT]
You can say an age or ages to mean a very long time. (INFORMAL)
He waited what seemed an age...
The bus took absolutely ages to arrive.
= forever
7
see also aged, ageing, dark age, dark age, golden age,
Ice Age, Iron Age, Stone Age, Stone Age
8 [PHRASE] V inflects
If someone tells you to act your age, they are telling you to behave in a way that is suitable for someone your age, because they think you are behaving in a childish way.
9 [PHRASE] V inflects
If something comes of age, it reaches an important stage of development and is accepted by a large number of people.
Recycling is an issue that has come of age in Britain in the last decade.
10 [PHRASE] V inflects
When someone comes of age, they become legally an adult.
The company was to be held in trust for Eddie until he came of age.
11 [PHRASE] usu v-link PHR, PHR n
Someone who is under age is not legally old enough to do something, for example to buy an alcoholic drink.
Because she was under age, her parents were still responsible for her.
...under age smoking.age group (age groups)
[N-COUNT]
An age group is the people in a place or organization who were born during a particular period of time, for example all the people aged between 18 and 25.
...a style that would appeal to all age groups.age lim|it (age limits)
[N-COUNT]
An age limit is the oldest or youngest age at which you are allowed under particular regulations to do something.
In some cases there is a minimum age limit.age of con|sent
[N-SING] the N
The age of consent is the age at which a person can legally agree to having a sexual relationship.
He was under the age of consent.com|ing of age
1 [N-SING] with supp
When something reaches an important stage of development and is accepted by a large number of people, you can refer to this as its coming of age.
...postwar Germany's final coming-of-age as an independent sovereign state.
2 [N-SING] with poss
Someone's coming of age is the time when they become legally an adult.
...traditional coming-of-age ceremonies.dark age (dark ages)
also Dark Age
1 [N-COUNT]
If you refer to a period in the history of a society as a dark age, you think that it is characterized by a lack of knowledge and progress. (WRITTEN)
The Education Secretary accuses teachers of wanting to return to a dark age.
2 [N-PROPER] the N
The Dark Ages are the period of European history between about 500 A.D. and about 1000 A.D.gold|en age (golden ages)
[N-COUNT] oft N of n
A golden age is a period of time during which a very high level of achievement is reached in a particular field of activity, especially in art or literature.
You grew up in the golden age of American children's books.men|tal age (mental ages)
[N-COUNT] usu sing
A person's mental age is the age which they are considered to have reached in their ability to think or reason.mid|dle age
[N-UNCOUNT]
Middle age is the period in your life when you are no longer young but have not yet become old. Middle age is usually considered to take place between the ages of 40 and 60.
Men tend to put on weight in middle age.old age
[N-UNCOUNT] oft poss N
Your old age is the period of years towards the end of your life.
They worry about how they will support themselves in their old age...
≠ youthold age pen|sion (old age pensions)
also old-age pension
[N-COUNT]
An old age pension is a regular amount of money that people receive from the government when they have retired from work. (BRIT; in AM, use social security benefit, social security payment)old age pen|sion|er (old age pensioners)
also old-age pensioner
[N-COUNT]
An old age pensioner is a person who is old enough to receive an pension from their employer or the government. (BRIT)
= OAPschool age
[N-UNCOUNT] oft prep N
When a child reaches school age, he or she is old enough to go to school.
Most of them have young children below school age.
[ADJ] usu ADJ n
School age is also an adjective.
...families with school-age children.space age
also space-age
1 [N-SING] the N
The space age is the present period in the history of the world, when travel in space has become possible.
2 [ADJ] usu ADJ n
You use space-age to describe something that is very modern and makes you think of the technology of the space age.
...a space-age tower of steel and glass.
= futuristicun|der age
also underage
1 [ADJ]
A person who is under age is legally too young to do something, for example to drink alcohol, have sex, or vote.
Underage youths can obtain alcohol from their older friends.
...girls who have babies when they are under age.
2 [ADJ] ADJ n
Under age activities such as drinking or smoking are carried out by people who are legally too young to do them.
...his efforts to stop under age drinking and drug abuse.
The spelling aging is also used, mainly in American English.
1 [N-VAR]
Your age is the number of years that you have lived.
She has a nephew who is just ten years of age...
At the age of sixteen he qualified for a place at the University of Hamburg...
I admired him for being so confident at his age.
2 [N-VAR]
The age of a thing is the number of years since it was made.
Everything in the room looks in keeping with the age of the building.
3 [N-UNCOUNT]
Age is the state of being old or the process of becoming older.
Perhaps he has grown wiser with age...
The fabric was showing signs of age...
4 [VERB] V, V n
When someone ages, or when something ages them, they seem much older and less strong or less alert.
He had always looked so young, but he seemed to have aged in the last few months...
He was only in his mid-thirties, but already worry had aged him.
5 [N-COUNT] usu with supp
An age is a period in history.
...the age of steam and steel.
...items of Bronze Age pottery.
6 [N-COUNT]
You can say an age or ages to mean a very long time. (INFORMAL)
He waited what seemed an age...
The bus took absolutely ages to arrive.
= forever
7
see also aged, ageing, dark age, dark age, golden age,
Ice Age, Iron Age, Stone Age, Stone Age
8 [PHRASE] V inflects
If someone tells you to act your age, they are telling you to behave in a way that is suitable for someone your age, because they think you are behaving in a childish way.
9 [PHRASE] V inflects
If something comes of age, it reaches an important stage of development and is accepted by a large number of people.
Recycling is an issue that has come of age in Britain in the last decade.
10 [PHRASE] V inflects
When someone comes of age, they become legally an adult.
The company was to be held in trust for Eddie until he came of age.
11 [PHRASE] usu v-link PHR, PHR n
Someone who is under age is not legally old enough to do something, for example to buy an alcoholic drink.
Because she was under age, her parents were still responsible for her.
...under age smoking.age group (age groups)
[N-COUNT]
An age group is the people in a place or organization who were born during a particular period of time, for example all the people aged between 18 and 25.
...a style that would appeal to all age groups.age lim|it (age limits)
[N-COUNT]
An age limit is the oldest or youngest age at which you are allowed under particular regulations to do something.
In some cases there is a minimum age limit.age of con|sent
[N-SING] the N
The age of consent is the age at which a person can legally agree to having a sexual relationship.
He was under the age of consent.com|ing of age
1 [N-SING] with supp
When something reaches an important stage of development and is accepted by a large number of people, you can refer to this as its coming of age.
...postwar Germany's final coming-of-age as an independent sovereign state.
2 [N-SING] with poss
Someone's coming of age is the time when they become legally an adult.
...traditional coming-of-age ceremonies.dark age (dark ages)
also Dark Age
1 [N-COUNT]
If you refer to a period in the history of a society as a dark age, you think that it is characterized by a lack of knowledge and progress. (WRITTEN)
The Education Secretary accuses teachers of wanting to return to a dark age.
2 [N-PROPER] the N
The Dark Ages are the period of European history between about 500 A.D. and about 1000 A.D.gold|en age (golden ages)
[N-COUNT] oft N of n
A golden age is a period of time during which a very high level of achievement is reached in a particular field of activity, especially in art or literature.
You grew up in the golden age of American children's books.men|tal age (mental ages)
[N-COUNT] usu sing
A person's mental age is the age which they are considered to have reached in their ability to think or reason.mid|dle age
[N-UNCOUNT]
Middle age is the period in your life when you are no longer young but have not yet become old. Middle age is usually considered to take place between the ages of 40 and 60.
Men tend to put on weight in middle age.old age
[N-UNCOUNT] oft poss N
Your old age is the period of years towards the end of your life.
They worry about how they will support themselves in their old age...
≠ youthold age pen|sion (old age pensions)
also old-age pension
[N-COUNT]
An old age pension is a regular amount of money that people receive from the government when they have retired from work. (BRIT; in AM, use social security benefit, social security payment)old age pen|sion|er (old age pensioners)
also old-age pensioner
[N-COUNT]
An old age pensioner is a person who is old enough to receive an pension from their employer or the government. (BRIT)
= OAPschool age
[N-UNCOUNT] oft prep N
When a child reaches school age, he or she is old enough to go to school.
Most of them have young children below school age.
[ADJ] usu ADJ n
School age is also an adjective.
...families with school-age children.space age
also space-age
1 [N-SING] the N
The space age is the present period in the history of the world, when travel in space has become possible.
2 [ADJ] usu ADJ n
You use space-age to describe something that is very modern and makes you think of the technology of the space age.
...a space-age tower of steel and glass.
= futuristicun|der age
also underage
1 [ADJ]
A person who is under age is legally too young to do something, for example to drink alcohol, have sex, or vote.
Underage youths can obtain alcohol from their older friends.
...girls who have babies when they are under age.
2 [ADJ] ADJ n
Under age activities such as drinking or smoking are carried out by people who are legally too young to do them.
...his efforts to stop under age drinking and drug abuse.