doddard
doddard · doddards
A frail old manA frail old man.
Meaning
2 sensesA frail old man.
(rare)A moribund or decayed tree.
Origin
Possibly from dodder (“to shake or tremble as one moves, especially as of old age”) + -ardPossibly from dodder (“to shake or tremble as one moves, especially as of old age”) + -ard. The Scottish National Dictionary, a Scots dictionary, defining doddard as “A foolish old man, a dotard”, and providing an 1823 quotation, gives the etymology as either a variant of dotard, comparing Early Modern English dodart, or perhaps related to doddered, with spelling influenced by dotard.
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