single
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈsɪŋɡl̩/
ipa: /ˈsɪŋɡəl/
homophone: cingle
rhymes: -ɪŋɡəl
Etymology: From Middle English single, sengle, from Old French sengle, saingle, sangle, from Latin singulus, a diminutive derived from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one”). Akin to Latin simplex (“simple”). See simple, and compare singular.
Senses: examples: text: Can you give me a single reason not to leave right now?
text: The vase contained a single long-stemmed rose.
text: The single-imaging optic of the mammalian eye offers some distinct visual advantages. Such lenses can take in photons from a wide range of angles, increasing light sensitivity. They also have high spatial resolution, resolving incoming images in minute detail. It’s therefore not surprising that most cameras mimic this arrangement.
ref: 2013 July-August, Fenella Saunders, “Tiny Lenses See the Big Picture”, in American Scientist:
synonyms: lone
sole
solitary
glosses: Not accompanied by anything else; one in number.
examples: text: The potatoes left the spoon and landed in a single big lump on the plate.
synonyms: unbroken
undivided
uniform
glosses: Not divided in parts.
examples: text: a single room
glosses: Designed for the use of only one.
examples: text: a single combat
text: These shifts refuted, answer thy appellant, […] / Who now defies thee thrice to single fight.
ref: 1649, J[ohn] Milton, ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], →OCLC:
glosses: Performed by one person, or one on each side.
examples: text: Forms often ask if a person is single, married, divorced, or widowed. In this context, a person who is dating someone but who has never married puts "single".
text: Josh put down that he was a single male on the dating website.
text: To undergo such maiden pilgrimage.
But earthlier happy is the rose distilled
Than that which, withering on the virgin thorn,
Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness.
ref: c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
text: Single chose to live, and shunned to wed.
ref: 1717, John Dryden [et al.], “(please specify |book=I to XV)”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
synonyms: unmarried
unpartnered
available
glosses: Not married, and (in modern times) not dating or without a significant other.
topics: biology
botany
natural-sciences
glosses: Having only one rank or row of petals.
examples: text: Therefore, when thyne eye is single: then is all thy boddy full off light. Butt if thyne eye be evyll: then shall all thy body be full of darknes?
ref: 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Luke xj:
text: I speak it with a single heart.
ref: 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:
glosses: Simple and honest; sincere, without deceit.
examples: text: simple ideas are opposed to complex , and single ideas to compound.
ref: 1725, Isaac Watts, Logick: Or, The Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry after Truth, […], 2nd edition, London: […] John Clark and Richard Hett, […], Emanuel Matthews, […], and Richard Ford, […], published 1726, →OCLC:
text: The most that is required is, that the passage of Scripture, selected as the foundation of the sacred oration, should, like the oration itself, be single, full, and unsuperfluous in its character.
ref: 1867, William Greenough Thayer Shedd, Homiletics, and Pastoral Theology, page 166:
glosses: Uncompounded; pure; unmixed.
examples: text: He utters such single matter in so infantly a voice.
ref: 1616–1618, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, Nathan Field, “The Queene of Corinth”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act III, scene i:
glosses: Simple; foolish; weak; silly.
Derived terms: a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
are you single
at a single stroke
better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness
cheese single
every single
every single time
I'm single
semi-single
single-acting
single action
single and ready to mingle
single angle quote
single annulus
single as a dollar bill
single as a Pringle
single bed
single-blind
single bond
single-breasted
single-cell
single-celled
single-celling
single-chain
single child
single-click
single combat
single-course
single cream
single crochet
single-crop
single cross
single crystal
single currency
single curve
single data rate
single-decker
single-digit salute
single dispatch
singledom
single-driver
single-edged
single-elimination
single-elimination tournament
single entendre
single entry
single-entry
single-eyed
single eyelid
single father
single-figure
single file
single-first cousin
single flower
single-fold
single-foot
single Gloucester
single grave
single-hand
single-handed
single-handedly
single-handedness
single-heading
single-hearted
single-heartedly
single-heartedness
singlehood
single-horse
single-incision laparoscopic surgery
single-issue
single jack
single justice procedure
single knot
single leaf
single lens reflex
single-lens reflex
single life
single-line
single-line whip
single malt
single malt scotch
single malt whisky
single-manned
single-manning
single market
single-masted
single-minded
single-mindedly
single-mindedness
single-molecule magnet
single money
single mother
singleness
single-O
single-o
single option
single order picking
single-organismic
single-page application
single pane of glass
single parent
single-parent family
single parenting
single-payer
single-phase
single-phasing
single-platform
singleplayer
single-player
single-ply membrane
single-ply roof
single pneumonia
single-point
single point of failure
single-point urban interchange
single precision
single procession
single prop
single quote
singler
single reed
single-reed
single responsibility principle
single scull
single-serve
single-serving site
single-sex
single shell
single shot
single-shot
single-sideband modulation
single-sided
single sourcing
single-space
single-spaced
single-spacing
single-speed bicycle
single standard
single star system
single-step
singlestick
single stitch
single story
single-strand binding protein
single-stranded
single-stream
single supplement
singlet
single-tasking
single tax
single-taxism
single ticket
single time
singleton
single track
single-track
single-tracking
single transferable vote
single tree
single-tree
single union agreement
single up
single-use
single-user
single-valued
single-valued function
single-wheeler
single wicket
single wicket cricket
single-wide
single-word
single yellow line
singly
Related terms: singular
singularity
singularly