(ed)  Also 4-6 aege, 5 eage, 5-6 aage, 6 aige. 

    I. A period of existence.

    1. The time that any animal or vegetable has lived; the length of time that anything has existed in its present form or state; length of existence.
 
  c1325 E.E. Allit. P. A412, I wat ful ong & tender of age. c1384 CHAUCER H. Fame 1986 In al myn age Ne saugh y suche an hous as this. 1477 EARL RIVERS (Caxton) Dictes 92 The said Alexander began to regne in the xviij yer of his eage. 1559 Myrroure for Mag., Dk. York xi. 3 Prudent for their age. 1611 BIBLE Mark V. 42 Shee was of the age of twelue yeeres. 1665-9 BOYLE Occas. Refl. II. xi. (1675) 133 Those, who are of the same age with me. 1751 CHAMBERS Cycl. s.v., The age of a hart, etc., is chiefly judged of by the furniture of his head. 1831 Census Quest. in Penny Cycl. VI. 414/1 How many persons (including children of whatever age) are there actually found within the limits of your parish?
 

    b. moon's age: number of days since the occurrence of the new moon. So day's age, year's age, etc.
 
  1636 MASSINGER Bashf. Lov. IV. i, Of what age is the day? 1751 CHAMBERS Cycl. s.v. Moon, To find the Moon's age:To the day of the month add the epact of the year, and the months from March inclusive. The sum, if under 30if over, the excessis the moon's age.
 

    c. age and area: designating a theory that the area occupied by a culture, language, animal species, etc., is a measure of its antiquity.
 
  1915 J. C. WILLIS in Phil. Trans. R. Soc. CCVI. 337 Genera will obviously tend to follow the age and area rule more closely than species. 1922 Age & Area vi. 62, I called this hypothesis, that on the average the area occupied by species in a country depended upon their age within that country, by the convenient jingle of ‘Age and Area’. 1922 J. SMALL in J. C. Willis Age & Area xiii. 126 Inequalities more or less cancel out when the genera are taken in groups of ten or more as specified for the Age and Area hypothesis.
 

    d. Expostulatory phr. be (less commonly act) your age: behave as becomes your years, i.e. in a responsible manner; don't be childish. orig. U.S.
 
  1925 New Yorker 26 Sept. 18/2 (caption) Be Your Age. 1931 E. LINKLATER Juan in America II. i. 63 Aw, be your age! 1932 Amer. Speech June 328 Act your age, ‘don't be childish’; ‘stop the foolishness’. 1933 Punch 11 Jan. 29/3 Son. Aw shucks! Doancher know nuttin'? Cummawn, be yerr age, Paw. 1948 ‘N. SHUTE’ No Highway iii. 70 Do you think the Inspection would have let this aircraft fly if there was any danger of that sort of thing? Be your age. 1951 S. KAYE-SMITH Mrs. Gailey ix. 180 Rosamund..spoke irritably. ‘Oh, be your age!’
 

    e. of an age: of the same age. Const. with.
 
  1934 H. G. WELLS Exper. Autobiogr. I. iii. 105, I got more mental stimulus from some of my school-fellows who were of an age with me. Ibid. II. viii. 627 We were both about of an age; to be exact he was six months younger than I.
 

    f. at one's age: when one is of a particular age; of an age: old enough to (do something).
 
  1896 BELLOC Bad Child's Bk. Beasts 5 A manner rude and wild Is common at your age. 1916 G. B. SHAW Androcles & Lion I. 9 The men, if of an age to bear arms, will be given weapons to defend themselves..against the Imperial Gladiators. 1919 Heartbreak Ho. I. 28 Do you suppose that at my age I make distinctions between one fellow creature and another? 1961 C. G. L. DU CANN Love-Lives Charles Dickens X. viii. 189 It is true that the eldest boy Charles was of an age to be flying off and building a nest of his own.
 

    2. The whole duration of the life or existence of any being or thing; the ordinary duration of life.
 
  1535 COVERDALE Ps. lxxxix. 10 The dayes of oure age iij score yeares and ten. 1611 BIBLE Gen. xlvii. 28 The whole age of Iacob was an hundred fourtie and seuen yeeres. 1703 ROWE Fair Penit. V. i. 1811 Shortens her Father's Age, and cuts him off. 1853 Encycl. Brit. I. 233 The age of man has greatly diminished from his first creation. Ibid. 234 Of the ages of the lower animals little is known.
 

    3. Such duration of life as ordinarily brings body and mind to full development; years of maturity or discretion, or what by law or custom are fixed as such. full age, in Eng. Law, 21 years; hence the expressions of (at, to obs.) age, under (within obs.) age, nonage. age of discretion, 14 years.
 
  1382 WYCLIF John ix. 21 Axe ye him, he hath age, speke he of himsilf. c1430 Syr Tryamoure 690 Of justyng canste thou ryght noght, For thou art not of age. 1509 FISHER Wks. 38 Till they come to aege in the ungracyous custome of synne. 1528 PERKINS Profit. Bk. V. §327 (1642) 144 If I dye, my heire within age. 1721 CIBBER Rival Fools I. i. (1754) II. 1 Sir, I'm no Boy, I have been at Age this Half-year. 1788 JOHNSON Lett. I. cxxviii. 278 To hinder my dear Harry from mischief when he comes to age. 1809 TOMLINS Law Dict. II. E1/1 Nor can any lord of parliament sit there, until he be of the full age of twenty-one years. Ibid., Nonage, in general understanding, is all the time of a person's being under the age of 21. 1832 H. MARTINEAU Demerara i. 4 The freedom which is so precious to young people when they reach what appears to them the age of discretion. Mod. When did he come of age?
 

    4. Hence, Any particular length of life which naturally or conventionally qualifies for anything. (Usually with over (past arch.), under.)
 
  c1315 SHOREHAM 63 Of ham that scholde y-wedded be Her the age thou myt lerne. 1382 WYCLIF Heb. xi. 11 Sare bareyn took vertu into conseyuing of seed, he, bi sydis, or withoute [1388 aen] the tyme of age. 1526 TINDALE ibid., When she was past age. [So in Genev., 1611, and Revised.] a1884 Mod. This is the candidate's last chance; in another year he will be over age. There is no limitation of age for this prize.
 

    5. A naturally distinct portion of the existence of a man or other being; a period or stage of life.
 
  1489 CAXTON Faytes of Armes I. ix. 22 In tyme to come of theyre flowryng aage. 1534 LD. BERNERS Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) Cijb, The fearefulle dedes and enterpryses doone by Caius Jul. Cesar in his yonge age. 1600 SHAKES. A.Y.L. II. vii. 143 One man in his time playes many parts, His Acts being seuen ages. 1602 Ham. III. iv. 68 At your age The hey-day in the blood is tame. 1611 Wint. T. IV. iv. 108 They are giuen To men of middle age. 1736 BAILEY (Fol.) s.v. The Life of Man is divided into four different Ages, Infancy, Youth, Manhood, Old Age. 1751 CHAMBERS Cycl. s.v., The Age of puberty commences at 14, and ends at about 25. c1815 WORDSWORTH To Yng. Lady, An old age serene and bright, And lovely as a Lapland night.
 

    6. esp. The latter part of life, when the physical effects of protracted existence become apparent; old age.
 
  1330 R. BRUNNE Chron. 114 A gode clerk wele in age. 1380 Sir Ferumb. 3481 Y am sumdel stryken in age. 1398 TREVISA Barth. De P.R. XVIII. xxvii. (1495) 788 Houndes in aege haue the Podagre. 1509 HAWES Past. Pleas. XI. xxxvi, Who in youth lyst nothyng to lerne, He wyl repent hym often in hys age. 1599 SHAKES. Pass. Pilgr. xii, Crabbed age and youth cannot live together. 1602 Ham. V. i. 79 Age with his stealing steps, Hath caught [v.r. claw'd] me in his clutch. a1631 DONNE Sat. iii, Age, death's twilight. 1646 SIR T. BROWNE Pseud. Ep. IV. xii. 217 Many grow old before they arrive at age. 1718 POPE Iliad I. 96 Thus spoke the prudence and the fears of age. 1770 GOLDSM. Des. Vill. 100 A youth of labour with an age of ease. 1842 TENNYSON Grandmother xxv, Age is a time of peace, So it be free from pain. 1858 SEARS Athan. xiv. 122 The moroseness and peevishness of age.
 

    b. Cards. The ‘eldest hand’ in the game of poker.
 
  1882 C. WELSH Poker; how to play it 47 Before the dealer begins to deal the cards, the player next to his left, who is called the ante-man, or age, must deposit in the pool an ante not exceeding one-half the limit previously agreed upon. 1889 GUERNDALE Poker Bk. v. 33 It would be C's place to bet first, he being to the left of the Age.
 

    7. The physical effects or qualities themselves; oldness, senility. Of things: Maturity.
 
  c1460 Cov. Myst. 139 Hese leggys here do folde for age. 1509 FISHER Wks. 294 For aege and febleness. 1599 SHAKES. Much Ado III. v. 37 When the age is in, the wit is out. 1611 BIBLE Ecclus. xxx. 24 Carefulnesse bringeth age before the time. 1859 J. LANG Wander. India 383 Bring several bottles of our Madeira, for theirs I do not like..It has not age. 1877 L. MORRIS Hades I. 50 The failing ear and eye, the slower limbs, Whose briefer name is Age.
 

    II. A period of time.

    8. The period of time contemporary with the lifetime of any one; the generation of men to which any one belongs. (Used in fixing a date, but not as a measure.)
 
  1330 R. BRUNNE Chron. 61 Malcolm mad homage tille Edward our kyng, at he and alle his age of Ingland sald hold at ing. 1557 N. T. (Genev.) Mark xiii. 30 This age shal not passe, tyl all these thynges be done. 1611 BIBLE Transl. Pref. 5 S. Hierome..the best linguist without controuersie, of his age. c1735 POPE Donne Sat. iv. 2 Adieu to all the follies of the age. 1849 MACAULAY Hist. Eng. I. 183 What, in our age, would be called gross perfidy and corruption. 1876 FREEMAN Norm. Conq. III. xi. 72 A dabbler in arts and sciences beyond his age.
 

    9. A lifetime taken as a measure of time; a generation.
 
  1535 COVERDALE Ps. cxliv. 13, & thy dominion endureth thorow out all ages. 1651 HOBBES Leviathan III. xxxiii. 203 The Writers of the New Testament lived all in lesse then an age after Christ's Ascension. 1718 Free-thinker No. 19. 128 A Duke is..not to be seen in a Countrey-Church above once in an Age. 1853 Encycl. Brit. II. 233 Nestor is said to have lived three ages when he was ninety years old.
 

    10. A long but indefinite space of time, marked by the succession of men.
 
  c1400 Destr. Troy Prol. 6 Off aunters ben olde of aunsetris nobill, And slydyn vppon shlepe by slomeryng of Age. 1590 MARLOWE 1st Pt. Tamburl. I. i. 6 Unhappy Persia, that in former age Hast been the seat of mighty Conquerors. 1611 BIBLE Eph. iii. 5 Which in other ages was not made knowen vnto the sonnes of men. 1654 CHAPMAN Alphonsus Pl. 1873 III. 212 H'as tane his leaue of me for age and age. 1816 J. WILSON City of Plague I. i. 39 But one dread year Hath done the work of ages. 1860 TENNYSON Locksley Hall 137 Yet I doubt not thro' the ages one increasing purpose runs.
 

    b. often loosely in exaggeration. Also in pl.
 
  1590 SHAKES. Mids. N. V. i. 33 To weare away this long age of three houres. 1627 FELTHAM Resolves I. xlvii. (1677) 75 In the dead age of night. a1704 T. BROWN Lett. Wks. 1730 I. 178 This very minute seems an age. 1813 JANE AUSTEN Pride & Prej. xvii. 76 The two ladies were delighted to see their dear friend again, called it an age since they had met. 1889 W. S. GILBERT Gondoliers II. 32 As at home we've been remainingWe've not seen you both for ages. 1922 JOYCE Ulysses 742, I suppose he died of galloping drink ages ago.
 

    c. occas. used for a century. (Cf. Fr. siècle.)
 
  1594 BLUNDEVILLE Exerc. III. I. xxxvi. (ed. 7) 352 The space of an hundred yeeres, called in Latine seculum, and in English an age. 1635 E. PAGITT Christianogr. III. (1636) 11 The end of the tenth, and beginning of the eleventh Age, after the incarnation. 1749 WESLEY Wks. 1872 X. 43 For they [Jerome and Hilarion] did not live within the first three ages. 1848 LOWELL Fable Poet. Wks. 1879, 149/2 Be true to yourselves and this new nineteenth age.
 

    11. Hist. Any great period or portion of human history distinguished by certain characters real or mythical, as the Golden Age, the Patriarchal Age, the Bronze Age, the Age of the Reformation, the Middle Ages, the Prehistoric Age.
 
  1297 R. GLOUC. 9 Of e world..e firste age & tyme was from oure firste fader Adam to Noe. 1552 LYNDESAY Monarche II. 1948 Of Weris, said he the gret outtrage Began in to the secunde aige. 1610 SHAKES. Temp. II. i. 168, I vvould vvith such perfection gouerne Sir, T'Excel the Golden Age. 1697 DRYDEN Virgil, Past. iv. 5 The last great Age, foretold by sacred Rhymes. 1736 BAILEY (Fol.), The Generality of Chronologers agree in making seven Ages [of the World] or Periods. 1818 HALLAM (title) A View of the state of Europe during the Middle Ages. 1865 TYLOR Early Hist. Man. 193 The Stone Age falls into two divisions, the Unground Stone Age, and the Ground Stone Age.
 

    12. Geol. A great period or stage of the history of the Earth, distinguished by its leading physical features; an æon.
 
  1855 KINGSLEY Glaucus (1878) 25 The Ice Age or Glacial Epoch. 1857 H. MILLER Test. Rocks i. 53 In the Oolitic ages insects become greatly more numerous.
 

    III. Comb., as age-class, -determination, -distribution, -fellow, -grade (hence -grading vbl. n.), -limit, -range, -scale, -set, -war; age-ago, -cold, -new, -proof, -weary, adjs.; also combs. in which age stands in objective relation to a pr. pple., as age-adorning, -dispelling; or in instrumental relation to a pa. pple., as age-cracked, -despoiled, -dimmed, -encamped, -enfeebled, -established, -gnarled, -honoured, -moulded, -peeled, -stricken, -worn, etc.; or in limiting relation to a pple. or adj., as age-coeval, -lasting, AGE-LONG, q.v. Also age-group, a number of persons or things classed together as of similar age; hence age-grouping vbl. n.; age-hardening Metallurgy, (of certain alloys) the process or result of AGEING; ageman obs., an old man; AGELESS, AGE-MATE, AGE-PRIER, q.v.
 
   1923 KIPLING Irish Guards in Gt. War I. 325 That *age-ago retreat from Mons.