Meaning

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

Definitions by Sense

1. To distribute in small amounts; to share out small portions of a meager resource.
2. Money or other goods given as charity.
3. Distribution; dealing; apportionment.
4. (informal) Payment by the state to the unemployed; unemployment benefits.
5. A boundary; a landmark.
6. (British, dialectal) A void space left in tillage.
7. (archaic) A sorrow or grief; dolour.
8. (law, Scotland) Dolus.

Example Sentences

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.

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

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

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

Word Forms

• doles
• doling
• doled

Synonyms for dole

Related Words

When Should You Use Dole?

Use dole when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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