Dole Meaning
/dəʊl/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
verbTo distribute in small amounts; to share out small portions of a meager resource.
nounMoney or other goods given as charity.
Sentence Examples
Dole out your wisdom a little at a time.
Senator Dole was a hero during World War Two.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The unemployed worker received a small weekly ____ from the government.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
____ out your wisdom a little at a time.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"So sure the dole, so ready at their call, / They stood prepar'd to see the manna fall."
— c. 1690, John Dryden, Eleonora:
"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:
"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:
"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:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The unemployed worker received a small weekly ____ from the government.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
____ out your wisdom a little at a time.