the seven ages of man
/ðə ˌsevn ˌeɪdʒɪz əv ˈmæn/
/ðə ˌsevn ˌeɪdʒɪz əv ˈmæn/
- seven periods into which a human life can be divided, i.e. those of the baby, the child, the lover, the soldier, the middle-aged person, the old person, and second childhood. The seven ages are best known from the description of them in a speech by Jaques in Shakespeare's As You Like It which begins: “All the world's a stage,And all the men and women merely players.They have their exits and their entrances;And one man in his time plays many parts.”.