age

1. The period that has elapsed since birth. 2. One of the periods into which human life is divided, distinguished by physical evolution, equilibrium, and involution; e.g., the seven ages of mankind are: infancy, childhood, adolescence, maturity, middle life, senescence, and senility. 3. To grow old; to gradually develop changes in structure that are not due to preventable disease or trauma and that are associated with decreased functional capacity and an increased probability of death. 4. To cause artificially the appearance characteristic of one who has lived long or of a thing that has existed for a long time. 5. In dentistry, to heat an alloy for amalgam so as to make it set more slowly, increase strength, reduce flow, and have a stable shelf life; aging occurs by relieving internal strains. [F. âge, L. aetas]

- achievement a. the relationship between the chronologic a. and the a. of achievement, as established by standard achievement tests.

- anatomical a. a. in terms of structure rather than of function or of passage of time. SYN: physical a..

- basal a. highest mental a. level of the Stanford-Binet intelligence scale at which all items are passed.

- Binet a. the a. of the normal child with whose intelligence (as measured by the Stanford-Binet scale) the intelligence of the abnormal child corresponds (the profoundly retarded individual functions like a child of 1–2 years; the moderately to severely retarded, 3–7 years; the borderline to mildly retarded, 8–12 years).

- bone a. stage of development of bone (in years) as adjudged by radiography, in contrast to chronologic a..

- childbearing a. the period in a woman's life between puberty and menopause.

- chronologic a. (CA) a. expressed in years and months; used as a measurement against which to evaluate a child's mental a. in computing the Stanford-Binet intelligence quotient.

- developmental a. 1. a. estimated by anatomic development since fertilization; 2. (DA) a. of an individual estimated from the degree of anatomic, physiologic, mental, and emotional maturation.

- emotional a. a measure of emotional maturity by comparison with average emotional development.

- gestational a. 1. in embryology, the a. of a conceptus expressed in elapsed time since conception; 2. in obstetrics, the developmental a. of a fetus, usually based on the presumed first day of the last normal menstrual period.

- menstrual a. a. of the conceptus computed from the start of the mother's last menstrual period.

- mental a. (MA) a measure, expressed in years and months, of a child's intelligence relative to a. norms as determined by testing with the Stanford-Binet intelligence scale.

- physical a. SYN: anatomical a..

- physiologic a. a. estimated in terms of function.

* * *

acrylamide gel; acute gastroenteritis; advanced glycosylation end-product; agarose gel electrophoresis; angle of greatest extension; arterial gas embolism

* * *

age 'āj n

1 a) the part of life from birth to a given time <a child 10 years of \age>

b) the time or part of life at which some particular event, qualification, or capacity arises, occurs, or is lost <of reproductive \age> <\age of onset> see MIDDLE AGE

c) an advanced stage of life

2) an individual's development measured in terms of the years requisite for like development of an average individual <a child of 7 with a mental \age of 10> see BINET AGE, MENTAL AGE

age vb, aged; ag·ing or age·ing vi to become old: show the effects or the characteristics of increasing age vt to cause to become old

* * *

advanced glycation end product.