Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - age

~1 S1 W1 n 1 »HOW OLD« the number of years someone has lived or something has existed  (Francis is the same age as me. | The boys were six years apart in age. | There were dozens of kids there, all different ages.) at the ~ of (=when someone is a particular age)  (Marco won the Grand Prix at the age of 19.) 4/15 etc years of ~ formal (=4, 15 etc years old)  (The missing girl is 19 years of age.) at ~ 57/4/18 etc AmE (=when someone is 57 etc years old)  (Saul entered Yale at age 14.) at an early ~ (=very young)  (girls who become mothers at a very early age) act your ~ (=behave in a way that is suitable to how old you are) sb's ~ (=how old someone is)  (When you get to my age, it's quite difficult getting up stairs.) for his/her ~ (=compared with others of the same age)  (She's very tall for her age, isn't she.) certain ~  (Kids get to a certain age and say, right, that's it, and they just go.) 2 »LEGAL AGE« the age when you are legally old enough to do something  (What's the minimum age for getting a driver's license?) under ~ (=too young)  (You're not allowed to be drinking, you're under age.) over ~ (=too old)  (Dan's over age, so the army won't accept him.) 3 »PERIOD OF LIFE« one of the particular periods of someone's life  (women of childbearing age | Phil's coming up to 13 - rather a difficult age.)  (- see also old age, middle age, teenage) 4 »BEING OLD« the state or fact of being old  (The newspapers were brown with age. | Age had given his face a sort of crumpled look.) 5 »PERIOD OF HISTORY« C usually singular a particular period of history  (the last Ice Age | We are living in the computer age.)  (- see also golden age, in this day and age (day (29))) 6 come of ~ a) reach the age when you are legally considered to be a responsible adult b) if something comes of ~, it reaches a stage of development at which people accept is as being important, valuable etc  (It was during this period that the movies really came of age as a creative art form.) 7 ~s also an ~ informal, especially BrE a long time  (It'll be ages before we're ready to go.) for ~s  (Simon! I haven't seen you for ages!) it's (been) ~s since  (It's ages since we've played that game.) take ~s  (It takes ages to make that recipe.) ~2 v present participle ~ing or aging 1 to start looking older or to make someone look older, especially because they have suffered a lot  (Myra's recent illness has aged her considerably.) 2 to become older  (The buildings are ageing, and some are unsafe.) 3 to improve and develop in quality and taste, over a period of time  (a wine that has aged well)