| age | 1. The whole duration of a being, whether animal, vegetable, or other kind; lifetime. "Mine age is as nothing before thee." (Ps. Xxxix. 5) 2. That part of the duration of a being or a thing which is between its beginning and any given time; as, what is the present age of a man, or of the earth? 3. The latter part of life; an advanced period of life; seniority; state of being old. "Nor wrong mine age with this indignity." (Shak) 4. One of the stages of life; as, the age of infancy, of youth, etc. 5. Mature age; especially, the time of life at which one attains full personal rights and capacities; as, to come of age; he (or she) is of age. In the United States, both males and females are of age when twenty-one years old. 6. The time of life at which some particular power or capacity is understood to become vested; as, the age of consent; the age of discretion. 7. A particular period of time in history, as distinguished from others; as, the golden age, the age of Pericles. "The spirit of the age." "Truth, in some age or other, will find her witness." (Milton) Archeological ages are designated as three: The Stone age (the early and the later stone age, called paleolithic and neolithic), the Bronze age, and the Iron age. During the Age of Stone man is supposed to have employed stone for weapons and implements. See Augustan, Brazen, Golden, Heroic, Middle. 8. A great period in the history of the Earth. The geologic ages are as follows: 1. The Archaean, including the time when was no life and the time of the earliest and simplest forms of life. 2. The age of Invertebrates, or the Silurian, when the life on the globe consisted distinctively of invertebrates. 3. The age of Fishes, or the Devonian, when fishes were the dominant race. 4. The age of Coal Plants, or Acrogens, or the Carboniferous age. 5. The Mesozoic or Secondary age, or age of Reptiles, when reptiles prevailed in great numbers and of vast size. 6. The Tertiary age, or age of Mammals, when the mammalia, or quadrupeds, abounded, and were the dominant race. 7. The Quaternary age, or age of Man, or the modern era. 9. A century; the period of one hundred years. "Fleury . . . Apologizes for these five ages." (Hallam) 10. The people who live at a particular period; hence, a generation. "Ages yet unborn." "The way which the age follows." (J. H. Newman) "Lo! where the stage, the poor, degraded stage, Holds its warped mirror to a gaping age." (C. Sprague) 11. A long time. "He made minutes an age." Age of a tide, the time from the origin of a tide in the South Pacific Ocean to its arrival at a given place. Moon's age, the time that has elapsed since the last preceding conjunction of the sun and moon. Age is used to form the first part of many compounds; as, agelasting, age-adorning, age-worn, age-enfeebled, agelong. Synonym: Time, period, generation, date, era, epoch. Origin: OF. Aage, eage, F. Age, fr. L. Aetas through a supposed LL. Aetaticum. L. Aetas is contracted fr. Aevitas, fr. Aevum lifetime, age; akin to E. Aye ever. Cf. Each. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| age-class | <ecology> A group of individuals of a species that have the same age. (09 Oct 1997) |
| age distribution | The frequency of different ages or age groups in a given population. The distribution may refer to either how many or what proportion of the group. The population is usually patients with a specific disease but the concept is not restricted to humans and is not restricted to medicine. (12 Dec 1998) |
| age factors | Age as a constituent element or influence contributing to the production of a result. It may be applicable to the cause or the effect of a circumstance. It is used with human or animal concepts but should be differentiated from aging, a physiological process, and time factors which refers only to the passage of time. (12 Dec 1998) |
| age groups | Persons classified by age from birth (infant, newborn) to octagenarians and older (aged, 80 and over). (12 Dec 1998) |
| age of onset | The age or period of life at which a disease or the initial symptoms or manifestations of a disease appear in an individual. (12 Dec 1998) |
| age-related macular degeneration | A common macular degeneration beginning with drusen of the macula and pigment disruption and sometimes leading to severe loss of central vision. (05 Mar 2000) |
| age-specific rate | A rate for a specified age group, in which the numerator and denominator refer to the same age group. (05 Mar 2000) |
| age spot | <dermatology> A skin disorder seen with aging (or sun exposure) where there are flat patches of increased pigmentation on the skin. They are nonserious, benign and generally more important cosmetically. The most commonly appear on sun exposed areas such as the forehead and the back of the hands. Avoidance of the sun and the use of a sunscreen (SPF of 15) can reduce the incidence of these lesions. Creams and lotions are available which bleach the skin. Cryotherapy can be used in some cases. (27 Sep 1997) |
| age-structured model | <epidemiology> A mathematical model which take into consideration the division of the host population into different age classes. Such models can used to consider the consequences of such factors as age-dependent infection, morbidity or mortality rates or of age-specific vaccination schedules. (05 Dec 1998) |
| anatomical age | The age in terms of structure rather than of function or of passage of time. Synonym: physical age. (05 Mar 2000) |
| basal age | The highest mental age level of the Stanford-Binet intelligence scale at which all items are passed. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Binet age | The age of the normal child with whose intelligence (as measured by the Stanford-Binet scale) the intelligence of the abnormal child corresponds (the profoundly retarded individual functions like a child of 1 to 2 years; the moderately to severely retarded, 3 to 7 years; the borderline to mildly retarded, 8 to 12 years). (05 Mar 2000) |
| bone age | The stage of development of bone as adjudged by radiography, in contrast to chronologic age. (05 Mar 2000) |
| gestational age | <obstetrics> Foetal age of a newborn, calculated from the number of completed weeks since the first day of the mother's last menstrual period to the date of birth. (27 Sep 1997) |