Dictionary

ager en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈeɪ.dʒə/ (UK)
• /ˈeɪ.d͡ʒɚ/ (US)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ey- Proto-Indo-European *-u Proto-Indo-European *h₂óyu Proto-Indo-European *-wom Proto-Indo-European *h₂oywom Proto-Italic *aiwom Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-ts Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ts Proto-Italic *-tāts Proto-Italic *aiwotāts Latin aetātem Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos Proto-Italic *-ātos Latin -ātus Proto-Indo-European *-ikos Proto-Italic *-ikos Latin -icus Latin -āticus Latin -āticum Vulgar Latin *aetāticum Old French eagebor. Middle English age English age Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -āriusbor. Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz Proto-West Germanic *-ārī Old English -ere Middle English -ere English -er English ager From age + -er.

Meanings

1. One who or that which ages something.
2. (euphemistic) One who is aging; an elderly person.
   • When the aging person depends on another, the control of the aged one's life space is placed in the hands of another person who may or may not contribute action energy that is appropriate or acceptable from the standpoint of the ager. 1965, Richard Hays Williams, Claudine G. Wirths, Lives Through the Years: Styles of Life and Successful Aging, Transaction Publishers, →ISBN, page 165:
   • Inappropriate behavior then erupts from the agers involved, disturbing everyone around, including the agers themselves, who often do not understand what is happening and struggle excessively to maintain rigid control of old perceptions and self images. 2006, Gloria Davenport, Working with Toxic Older Adults: A Guide to Coping with Difficult Elders, Springer Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 143:
   • This definition of success is located in society's structures and suits society, not the agers. Successful ageing is arguably therefore a socially constructed phenomenon, characterized by lack of “noise,” maintenance of youthful status until death, and a dogged engagement with social structures which appear almost as if designed to discourage the engagement of older people. 2014, Susan H. McFadden, Mark Brennan, New Directions in the Study of Late Life Religiousness and Spirituality, Routledge, →ISBN, page 62:
3. (in-compounds) One who belongs to a particular age or era.
   • The Ice Agers of this time invented new tools and technology and produced magnificent art. 2004, Linda Bailey, Adventures in the Ice Age, Kids Can Press Ltd, →ISBN, page 48:
   • Late Victorian Agers who witnessed cars replace horses, who lived through the dawn of radio and the recent discovery of a new planet named Pluto, joked that the world had come to this, that babies could now be conceived in the clouds. 2020 September 1, Michael McCarthy, The Hidden Hindenburg: The Untold Story of the Tragedy, the Nazi Secrets, and the Quest to Rule the Skies, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 66:
   • "You were just watching people without any period skills faffing about - any Iron Ager would have known that if you cook chicken in the dark, you'll end up with food poisoning. We didn't learn anything about their period at all" 2008 December 26, Tim Moore, I Believe In Yesterday: My Adventures in Living History, Random House, →ISBN, page 42:

Forms

Deriveds

middle-ager · superager

Synonyms

geriatric (elderly person) · senior citizen · oldster