3. A diminutive person; so called in allusion to the small figures cut in agate for rings and seals. [Obs.]
Shak.
4. A tool used by gold-wire drawers, bookbinders, etc.; — so called from the agate fixed in it for burnishing.
Agatiferous
(Ag`a*tif"er*ous) a. [Agate + -ferous.] Containing or producing agates. Craig.
Agatine
(Ag"a*tine) a. Pertaining to, or like, agate.
Agatize
(Ag"a*tize) v. t. [Usually p. p. Agatized] To convert into agate; to make resemble agate. Dana.
Agaty
(Ag"a*ty) a. Of the nature of agate, or containing agate.
Agave
(A*ga"ve) n. [L. Agave, prop. name, fr. Gr. fem. of illustrious, noble.] (bot.) A genus of plants
(order Amaryllidaceæ) of which the chief species is the maguey or century plant wrongly called Aloe.
It is from ten to seventy years, according to climate, in attaining maturity, when it produces a gigantic
flower stem, sometimes forty feet in height, and perishes. The fermented juice is the pulque of the
Mexicans; distilled, it yields mescal. A strong thread and a tough paper are made from the leaves, and
the wood has many uses.
Agazed
(A*gazed") p. p. [Only in p. p.; another spelling for aghast.] Gazing with astonishment; amazed.
[Obs.]
The whole army stood agazed on him.
Shak.
Age
(Age) n. [OF. aage, eage, F. âge, 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.]
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. Shak.
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. Abbott. 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. Abbott.
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." Prescott.
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.
