(~s, ~ing, aging, ~d)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
Note: The spelling 'aging' is also used, mainly in American English.
1.
Your ~ is the number of years that you have lived.
She has a nephew who is just ten years of ~...
At the ~ of sixteen he qualified for a place at the University of Hamburg...
I admired him for being so confident at his ~.
N-VAR
2.
The ~ of a thing is the number of years since it was made.
Everything in the room looks in keeping with the ~ of the building.
N-VAR
3.
Age is the state of being old or the process of becoming older.
Perhaps he has grown wiser with ~...
The fabric was showing signs of ~...
N-UNCOUNT
4.
When someone ~s, or when something ~s them, they seem much older and less strong or less alert.
He had always looked so young, but he seemed to have ~d in the last few months...
He was only in his mid-thirties, but already worry had ~d him.
VERB: V, V n
5.
An ~ is a period in history.
...the ~ of steam and steel.
...items of Bronze Age pottery.
N-COUNT: usu with supp
6.
You can say an ~ or ~s to mean a very long time. (INFORMAL)
He waited what seemed an ~...
The bus took absolutely ~s to arrive.
= forever
N-COUNT
7.
see also ~d , ~ing , coming of ~ , dark ~ , golden ~ , Ice Age , Iron Age , middle ~ , Stone Age
8.
If someone tells you to act your ~, they are telling you to behave in a way that is suitable for someone your ~, because they think you are behaving in a childish way.
PHRASE: V inflects disapproval
9.
If something comes of ~, it reaches an important st~ of development and is accepted by a large number of people.
Recycling is an issue that has come of ~ in Britain in the last decade.
PHRASE: V inflects
10.
When someone comes of ~, they become legally an adult.
The company was to be held in trust for Eddie until he came of ~.
PHRASE: V inflects
11.
Someone who is under ~ is not legally old enough to do something, for example to buy an alcoholic drink.
Because she was under ~, her parents were still responsible for her.
...under ~ smoking.
PHRASE: usu v-link PHR, PHR n