Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DOTE, v.i. [D. dutten, to dote, to doze; W. dotiaw, to put out, to cause to mistake, to err, to dote; dotian, to be confused; Fr. radoter, to rave, to talk idly or extravagantly. The French word is rendered in Armoric, rambreal, which seems to be our ramble.]

1. To be delirious; to have the intellect impaired by age, so that the mind wanders or wavers; to be silly. Time has made you dote, and vainly tell / Of arms imagined in your lonely cell. – Dryden.
2. To be excessively in love; usually with on or upon: to dote on, is to love to excess or extravagance. What dust we dote on, when 'tis man we love. – Pope. Aholah doted on her lovers, the Assyrians. – Ezek. xxiii.
3. To decay. – Houston.