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Webster 1913 Edition


Nonage

Non′age

,
Noun.
[LL.
nonagium
, from L.
nonus
ninth,
novem
nine.]
(Eccl.)
The ninth part of movable goods, formerly payable to the clergy on the death of persons in their parishes.
Mozley & W.

Non′age

,
Noun.
[Pref.
non-
+
age
.]
Time of life before a person becomes of age; legal immaturity; minority.
The human mind . . . was still in its
nonage
.
Coleridge.

Webster 1828 Edition


Nonage

NONAGE

,
Noun.
[non, not, and age] Minority; the time of life before a person, according to the laws of his country, becomes of age to manage his own concerns. Legal maturity of age is different in different countries. In this country, as in Great Britain, a mans nonage continues till he has completed twenty one years. Nonage is sometimes the period under 14 years of age, as in case of marriage.

Definition 2024


nonage

nonage

English

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈnəʊnɪdʒ/

Noun

nonage (plural nonages)

  1. The state of being under legal age; minority, the fact of being a minor. [from 15th c.]
    • 1592, William Shakespeare, Richard III, Act II, Scene 3,
      In him there is a hope of government, / That in his nonage council under him, / And in his full and ripen'd years himself, / No doubt, shall then and till then govern well.
    • c. 1608, John Donne, A Litany, stanza VI, "The Angels" in The Poems of John Donne, edited by Edmund Kerchever Chambers, London: Lawrence & Bullen, 1896,
      And since this life our nonage is, / And we in wardship to Thine angels be, / Native in heaven's fair palaces / Where we shall be but denizen'd by Thee;
    • 1723, Charles Walker, Memoirs of the Life of Sally Salisbury:
      The other he used to recreate himself with, after he had been solemnly Contracted to his intended Spouse who was in her Nonage, and kept her till his Wife was ripe for Consummation.
    • 1917, James Cabell, The Cream of the Jest, New York: Modern Library, 1922, Chapter 39, p. 235,
      Romancers, from Time's nonage, have invented and have manipulated a host of staple severances for their puppet lovers []
    • 1924, Herman Melville, Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co., Chapter 17,
      Which appeal caused but a strange dumb gesturing and gurgling in Billy; amazement at such an accusation so suddenly sprung on inexperienced nonage []

Etymology 2

From Late Latin nonagium, from nōnus (ninth).

Noun

nonage (plural nonages)

  1. (obsolete, rare) A payment formerly made from to the parish clergy upon the death of a parishioner, consisting of a ninth of the movable goods.

Anagrams