dole

noun

1. 1

   Distribution; dealing; apportionment.

   c. 1650s, John Cleveland, Upon Phillis Walking in a Morning before Sun-rising At her general dole, / Each receives his ancient soul.

2. 2

   Distribution; dealing; apportionment. Distribution of alms or gifts.

   Go not away, thou weary soul: / Heaven has in store a precious dole / Even on Bethsaida's cold and darksome height, [...]

3. 3

   Money or other goods given as charity.

   So sure the dole, so ready at their call, / They stood prepar'd to see the manna fall.

   Devereux […] was beholden, not only for his fun, but occasionally for his daily bread and even his liberty, to those benovolent^([sic]) doles.

4. 4

   informalPayment by the state to the unemployed; unemployment benefits.

   I get my dole paid twice a week.

   I've been on the dole for two years now.

   So, we are being fobbed off by second-rate American junk by smart aleck salesman from Pittsburgh while British factories stand empty and British workmen queue up for the dole.

   From the ice age to the dole age / There is but one concern / I have just discovered

5. 5

   A boundary; a landmark.

   Curſed be he which tranſlateth the bounds and dolles of his Neighbor.

6. 6

   A void space left in tillage.

verb

1. 1

   To distribute alms, etc., in small amounts; to share out small portions of a meager resource.

2. 2

   To distribute (as, alms) in small amounts; to share out (small portions of a meager resource).

noun

1. 1

   archaicA sorrow or grief; dolour.

   Syr said sir gyngalyn I wote not what knyȝt he was / but wel I wote that he sygheth and maketh grete dole. "Sir, said Sir Gingalin, I wot not what knight he was, but well I wot that he sigheth, and maketh great dole."

   But ten slow mornings past, and on the eleventh / Her father laid the letter in her hand, / And closed the hand upon it, and she died. / So that day there was dole in Astolat.

   These knights he keepeth there in great dole and misery, for it is said that their groans may be heard by the passers along the high-road below the castle.

2. 2

   Dolus.

noun

1. 1

   Variant of dholeAlternative form of dhole (“Asian wild dog”).

Forms

plural

doles

past tense

doled

past participle

doled

present participle

doling

third person singular

doles