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Single   /sˈɪŋgəl/   Listen
adjective
Single  adj.  
1.
One only, as distinguished from more than one; consisting of one alone; individual; separate; as, a single star. "No single man is born with a right of controlling the opinions of all the rest."
2.
Alone; having no companion. "Who single hast maintained, Against revolted multitudes, the cause Of truth."
3.
Hence, unmarried; as, a single man or woman. "Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness." "Single chose to live, and shunned to wed."
4.
Not doubled, twisted together, or combined with others; as, a single thread; a single strand of a rope.
5.
Performed by one person, or one on each side; as, a single combat. "These shifts refuted, answer thy appellant,... Who now defles thee thrice ti single fight."
6.
Uncompounded; pure; unmixed. "Simple ideas are opposed to complex, and single to compound."
7.
Not deceitful or artful; honest; sincere. "I speak it with a single heart."
8.
Simple; not wise; weak; silly. (Obs.) "He utters such single matter in so infantly a voice."
Single ale, Single beer, or Single drink, small ale, etc., as contrasted with double ale, etc., which is stronger. (Obs.)
Single bill (Law), a written engagement, generally under seal, for the payment of money, without a penalty.
Single court (Lawn Tennis), a court laid out for only two players.
Single-cut file. See the Note under 4th File.
Single entry. See under Bookkeeping.
Single file. See under 1st File.
Single flower (Bot.), a flower with but one set of petals, as a wild rose.
Single whip (Naut.), a single rope running through a fixed block.


noun
Single  n.  
1.
A unit; one; as, to score a single.
2.
pl. The reeled filaments of silk, twisted without doubling to give them firmness.
3.
A handful of gleaned grain. (Prov. Eng. & Scot.)
4.
(Law Tennis) A game with but one player on each side; usually in the plural.
5.
(Baseball) A hit by a batter which enables him to reach first base only.


verb
Single  v. t.  (past & past part. singled; pres. part. singling)  
1.
To select, as an individual person or thing, from among a number; to choose out from others; to separate. "Dogs who hereby can single out their master in the dark." "His blood! she faintly screamed her mind Still singling one from all mankind."
2.
To sequester; to withdraw; to retire. (Obs.) "An agent singling itself from consorts."
3.
To take alone, or one by one. "Men... commendable when they are singled."


Single  v. i.  To take the irrregular gait called single-foot; said of a horse. See Single-foot. "Many very fleet horses, when overdriven, adopt a disagreeable gait, which seems to be a cross between a pace and a trot, in which the two legs of one side are raised almost but not quite, simultaneously. Such horses are said to single, or to be single-footed."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Single" Quotes from Famous Books



... good earnest) is a marvellous vain, fickle, and unstable subject, and on whom it is very hard to form any certain and uniform judgment. For Pompey could pardon the whole city of the Mamertines, though furiously incensed against it, upon the single account of the virtue and magnanimity of one citizen, Zeno,—[Plutarch calls him Stheno, and also Sthemnus and Sthenis]—who took the fault of the public wholly upon himself; neither entreated other favour, but alone to undergo the punishment for ...
— The Essays of Montaigne, Complete • Michel de Montaigne
... recipient. What made Hugh's tutor-life irksome, was partly the excess of his desire to communicate, over the desire of his pupils to partake. But here there was no labour. All the questions were asked by the scholars. A single lesson had not passed, however, before David put questions which Hugh was unable to answer, and concerning which he was obliged to confess his ignorance. Instead of being discouraged, as eager questioners are very ready to be when they receive no answer, David merely ...
— David Elginbrod • George MacDonald
... as carefully hidden as a conspirator would a bomb under his cloak. It had grown to be as necessary to her to agree with the views and fashions of the majority as it was disquieting to her to see these contravened, or even for a single hour ignored. From the crown of her carefully dressed head to the tips of her pointed toes she was engaged in testifying her assent to the prevailing note. Despite all this to recommend her, she was not Lady John's ...
— The Convert • Elizabeth Robins
... single man; and what can you do against twenty ruffians?" asked the Kentucky girl, who still trembled, and did not seem to believe that the stalwart cavalryman could do anything to ...
— A Lieutenant at Eighteen • Oliver Optic
... when a dozen sympathetic murmurs addressed him, because he was not conscious of hearing a single voice. He stood silently, looking down at the twisted great knots of metal that had been the new presses, the great wave of soaked and half-burned newspapers that had been the last issue of the MAIL. The fire had been twenty-four ...
— The Rich Mrs. Burgoyne • Kathleen Norris


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