Masonically, a fool is a mature man without good common sense. Legally, he is of age, mentally, he is deficient. Dotage begins at no special year; it is that time in a man’s life when his mental power deteriorate. The fool never has much mental power; the greatest mentality may decline in dotage due to a complete lack of responsibility and judgment.  Some men enter dotage in early life; others never enter it at all. Libertine, Masonically, refers to a freethinker, a nonconformist, one who subscribes to no higher authority in his thinking. It does not denote what is meant by the word in modern days, a man who is promiscuous sexually. Profane, Masonically, means “not a Mason”. It comes from the Latin pro meaning before and fanum a temple; Masonically, a profane is one “outside of the temple”, uninitiated. The word has no reference to “profanity” in the modern sense of taking the name of God in vain.

-- “One Hundred One Questions”, The Masonic Service Association

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