dole

See also: Appendix:Variations of "dole"

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dəʊl/, [dɒʊl]
  • (doll–dole merger) IPA^(key): /dɒl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /dol/
• Rhymes: -əʊl
• Homophones: dhole, doll (doll–dole merger)

Etymology 1

From Middle English dol, from Old English dāl (“portion, share, division, allotment”), from Proto-Germanic *dailą (“part, deal”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰayl- (“part, watershed”). Cognate with Old Church Slavonic дѣлити (děliti, “divide”). More at deal.

Verb

dole (third-person singular simple present doles, present participle doling, simple past and past participle doled)

1. To distribute in small amounts; to share out small portions of a meager resource.

Derived terms

• dole out

Translations

to distribute in small amounts

Bulgarian: раздавам (bg) (razdavam) Dutch: uitdelen (nl), toebedelen (nl), ronddelen (nl) Finnish: jakaa (fi), jaella (fi) Maori: tōronga Russian: раздава́ть (ru) impf (razdavátʹ)

Noun

dole

1. Money or other goods given as charity.
   • c. 1690, John Dryden, Eleonora:

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

   • 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:

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

2. 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.

   • 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:

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

3. (informal) Payment by the state to the unemployed; unemployment benefits.

   Synonyms: (UK) pancrack, (Canada) pogey

   I get my dole paid twice a week.

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

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

     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.

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

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

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

     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.

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

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

   • 2002, “Has It Come to This?”, in Mike Skinner (lyrics), Original Pirate Material, performed by The Streets:

     Sort your shit out, then roll / Sex, drugs, and on the dole / Some men rise, some men fall

4. A boundary; a landmark.
   • 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:

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

5. (British, dialectal) A void space left in tillage.

Derived terms

(payment to support the unemployed):

• dole bludger
• dole bread
• dole head
• dolehead
• doleite
• dole meadow
• dole merchant
• dole queue

Translations

money or goods given as charity

Bulgarian: милости́ня (bg) f (milostínja), подая́ние (bg) n (podajánie) Czech: almužna (cs) f, milodar (cs) m Finnish: avustus (fi) Georgian: მოწყალება (moc̣q̇aleba) Hungarian: segély (hu) Latin: stips m Russian: ми́лостыня (ru) f (mílostynja), подая́ние (ru) n (podajánije), пода́чка (ru) f (podáčka) Serbo-Croatian: Roman: milostinja (sh) f

unemployment benefit

Bulgarian: по́мощ при безрабо́тица f (pómošt pri bezrabótica) Czech: podpora (cs) f, podpora v nezaměstnanosti f Dutch: werkloosheidsuitkering (nl) f, steun (nl) m (Netherlands), dop (nl) m (Belgium) Finnish: tuki (fi), työttömyyspäiväraha (fi), työttömyysavustus French: assedics German: Stütze (de) f (colloquial) Icelandic: atvinnuleysisbætur f pl Russian: посо́бие (ru) n (posóbije), посо́бие по безрабо́тице n (posóbije po bezrabótice) Serbo-Croatian: Roman: naknada za nezaposlenost f Slovene: socialna pomoč f Spanish: paro (es) m (colloquial) Welsh: dôl

Etymology 2

From Middle English dole (“grief”), from Old French doel (compare French deuil), from Late Latin dolus, from Latin doleo.

Noun

dole (uncountable)

1. (archaic) A sorrow or grief; dolour.
   • 1485, Thomas Malory, William Caxton, Le Morte Darthur, Book IX, Chapter xvii, leaf 183r:

     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."

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

     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.

   • 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:

     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. (law, Scotland) Dolus.

Derived terms

• doleful
• dolesome
• dolewave

Anagrams

• Delo, Deol, Doel, Ledo, OLED, leod, lode, olde

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈdolɛ]

• Audio:

  (file)

Etymology 1

Adverb

dole

1. down (at a lower place or position)

   Antonym: nahoře

Related terms

• dolů

See also

• vlevo
• vpravo

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

dole m

1. vocative/locative singular of důl

Further reading

• “dole”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “dole”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “dole”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

Dutch

Verb

dole

1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of dolen

Anagrams

• doel

French

Pronunciation

• Homophones: dolent, doles

Verb

dole

1. inflection of doler:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Latin

Verb

dolē

1. second-person singular present active imperative of doleō

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɔlɛ/, [ˈdɔlə]

Noun

dole

1. locative singular of doł

Middle English

Alternative forms

• dele, doell

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French doel (compare French deuil), from Late Latin dolus, from Latin doleo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɔːl/, /doːl/

Noun

dole (plural doles)

1. grief, sorrow

Descendants

• English: dole
• Yola: dole

References

• “dōl, n.(2)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɔ.lɛ/
• Rhymes: -ɔlɛ
• Syllabification: do‧le

Noun

dole f

1. nominative/accusative/vocative plural of dola

Noun

dole m inan

1. locative/vocative singular of dół

Serbo-Croatian

Alternative forms

• dȍlje (Ijekavian)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dôle/
• Hyphenation: do‧le

Adverb

dȍle (Cyrillic spelling до̏ле) (Ekavian)

1. down
2. below

Interjection

dȍle (Cyrillic spelling до̏ле)

1. down

   Dol(j)e s vladom!

   Down with the government!