dole

plural doles

1. uncountableDistribution; dealing; apportionment.First known use late 12th c.

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

   1. countableuncountableDistribution 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, [...]

      1827, [John Keble], “Seventh Sunday after Trinity”, in The Christian Year: Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holydays throughout the Year, volume II, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [B]y W. Baxter, for J. Parker; and C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington, […], →OCLC, page 26

2. broadlyuncountableMoney or other goods given as charity.First known use late 15th c.

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

   c. 1690, John Dryden, Eleonora

   1 more example

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

   1863, J[oseph] Sheridan Le Fanu, “In Which Captain Devereux’s Fiddle Plays a Prelude to ‘Over the Hills and Far Away’”, in The House by the Church-yard. […], volume I, London: Tinsley, Brothers, […], →OCLC, pages 307–308

3. informaloftenuncountablePayment by the state to the unemployed; unemployment benefits.First known use 1919

   I get my dole paid twice a week.

   5 more examples

   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.

   1980 February 25, Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn, “Open Government”, in Yes Minister, season 1, episode 1, spoken by Jim Hacker (Paul Eddington)

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

   1986, Morrissey, Johnny Marr, “Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others”, in The Queen is Dead, performed by The Smiths

   The men sit because they′re worn out from walking to the Labour Exchange every morning to sign for the dole, discussing the world’s problems and wondering what to do with the rest of the day.

   1996, Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes, page 107

   The FY 1997/98 Commonwealth budget allocated funding of A$ 21.6 million to the Work for the Dole initiative for unemployed young people.

   1997, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD Economic Surveys: Australia, page 67

   Synonyms: pancrack, pogey

4. countableA boundary; a landmark.

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

   1559, “Injunctions Given by the Queens Majesty, Concerning both the Clergy and Laity, of This Realm, Published Anno Domini Mdlix. being the First Year of the Raign of Our Soveraign Lady Queen Elizabeth”, in Anth[ony] Sparrow, compiler, A Collection of Articles, Injunctions, Canons, Orders, Ordinances, & Constitutions Ecclesiastical, with Other Publick Records of the Church of England, […], 4th edition, London: […] Blanch Rawlet […], published 1684, →OCLC, paragraph 19, page 73

5. UKcountabledialectalA void space left in tillage.

present singular third person doles · participle present doling · participle past doled · past doled

1. intransitiveTo distribute alms, etc., in small amounts; to share out small portions of a meager resource.First known use mid-15th c.
2. transitiveTo distribute (as, alms) in small amounts; to share out (small portions of a meager resource).First known use 1749

1. archaicuncountableA sorrow or grief; dolour.

   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.

   1905, Howard Pyle, “The Story of Launcelot”, in The Story of the Champions of the Round Table, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, page 46

   2 more examples

   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."

   1485, Thomas Malory, William Caxton, Le Morte Darthur, Book IX, Chapter xvii, leaf 183r

   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.

   a. 1885, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Lancelot and Elaine”, in Idylls of the King

2. ScotlanduncountablelawDolus.

plural doles

1. alternativeAlternative form of dhole (“Asian wild dog”).

plural Doles

1. countableuncountableA surname.
2. countableuncountableDole Constituency, a parliamentary constituency in Zanzibar.
3. countableuncountableA commune in Jura department, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France.
4. countableuncountableA hamlet in Tirymynach community, Ceredigion, Wales (OS grid ref SN6386).

1. PhilippinesabbreviationacronymAcronym of Department of Labor and Employment.