dole
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /dəʊl/
ipa: [dɒʊl]
note: doll–dole merger
ipa: /dɒl/
ipa: /dol/
rhymes: -əʊl
homophone: dhole
homophone: doll (doll–dole merger)
Etymology: 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.
Senses: examples: text: So sure the dole, so ready at their call, / They stood prepar'd to see the manna fall.
ref: c. 1690, John Dryden, Eleonora:
text: Devereux […] was beholden, not only for his fun, but occasionally for his daily bread and even his liberty, to those benovolent^([sic]) doles.
ref: 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:
glosses: Money or other goods given as charity.
examples: text: c. 1650s, John Cleveland, Upon Phillis Walking in a Morning before Sun-rising
At her general dole, / Each receives his ancient soul.
text: Go not away, thou weary soul: / Heaven has in store a precious dole / Even on Bethsaida's cold and darksome height, [...]
ref: 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:
glosses: Distribution; dealing; apportionment.
examples: text: I get my dole paid twice a week.
text: I've been on the dole for two years now.
text: 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.
ref: 1980 February 25, Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn, “Open Government”, in Yes Minister, season 1, episode 1, spoken by Jim Hacker (Paul Eddington):
text: From the ice age to the dole age / There is but one concern / I have just discovered
ref: 1986, Morrissey, Johnny Marr, “Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others”, in The Queen is Dead, performed by The Smiths:
text: 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.
ref: 1996, Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes, page 107:
text: The FY 1997/98 Commonwealth budget allocated funding of A$ 21.6 million to the Work for the Dole initiative for unemployed young people.
ref: 1997, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD Economic Surveys: Australia, page 67:
text: Sort your shit out, then roll / Sex, drugs, and on the dole / Some men rise, some men fall
ref: 2002, “Has It Come to This?”, in Mike Skinner (lyrics), Original Pirate Material, performed by The Streets:
synonyms: pancrack
pogey
glosses: Payment by the state to the unemployed; unemployment benefits.
examples: text: Curſed be he which tranſlateth the bounds and dolles of his Neighbor.
ref: 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:
glosses: A boundary; a landmark.
glosses: A void space left in tillage.
Derived terms: dole bludger
dole bread
dole head
dolehead
doleite
dole meadow
dole merchant
dole queue