*singl*

adv. In caressing manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In the manner of a carouser. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a manner to debase. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a depressing manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Contemptuously. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a manner to dispose. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. By way of dispraise. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. By way of conjecture. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. With a hissing sound. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In an imposing manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. More and more. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Prob. corrupted fr. D. huizenblas (akin to G. hausenblase), lit., bladder of the huso, or large sturgeon; huizen sturgeon + blas bladder. Cf. Bladder, Blast a gust of wind. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A semitransparent, whitish, and very pure form of gelatin, chiefly prepared from the sounds or air bladders of various species of sturgeons (as the Acipenser huso) found in the rivers of Western Russia. It used for making jellies, as a clarifier, etc. Cheaper forms of gelatin are not unfrequently so called. Called also fish glue. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Min.) A popular name for mica, especially when in thin sheets. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a manner to incur loss. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. With a sense of loss. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a musing manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Exceedingly. Wyclif. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. With pauses; haltingly. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. So as to pose or puzzle. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Prosily. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a rousing manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. singulus, a dim. from the root in simplex simple; cf. OE. & OF. sengle, fr. L. singulus. See Simple, and cf. Singular. ] 1. One only, as distinguished from more than one; consisting of one alone; individual; separate; as, a single star. [ 1913 Webster ]

No single man is born with a right of controlling the opinions of all the rest. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Alone; having no companion. [ 1913 Webster ]

Who single hast maintained,
Against revolted multitudes, the cause
Of truth. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Hence, unmarried; as, a single man or woman. [ 1913 Webster ]

Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Single chose to live, and shunned to wed. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Not doubled, twisted together, or combined with others; as, a single thread; a single strand of a rope. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Performed by one person, or one on each side; as, a single combat. [ 1913 Webster ]

These shifts refuted, answer thy appellant, . . .
Who now defles thee thrice ti single fight. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Uncompounded; pure; unmixed. [ 1913 Webster ]

Simple ideas are opposed to complex, and single to compound. I. Watts. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. Not deceitful or artful; honest; sincere. [ 1913 Webster ]

I speak it with a single heart. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. Simple; not wise; weak; silly. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

He utters such single matter in so infantly a voice. Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

Single ale,
Single beer, or
Single drink, small ale, etc., as contrasted with double ale, etc., which is stronger. [ Obs. ] Nares. --
Single bill (Law), a written engagement, generally under seal, for the payment of money, without a penalty. Burril. --
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 knot. See Illust. under Knot. --
Single whip (Naut.), a single rope running through a fixed block. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Singled p. pr. & vb. n. Singling ] 1. To select, as an individual person or thing, from among a number; to choose out from others; to separate. [ 1913 Webster ]

Dogs who hereby can single out their master in the dark. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

His blood! she faintly screamed her mind
Still singling one from all mankind. More. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To sequester; to withdraw; to retire. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

An agent singling itself from consorts. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To take alone, or one by one. [ 1913 Webster ]

Men . . . commendable when they are singled. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To take the irrregular gait called single-foot; -- said of a horse. See Single-foot. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. W. S. Clark. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A unit; one; as, to score a single. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. pl. The reeled filaments of silk, twisted without doubling to give them firmness. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A handful of gleaned grain. [ Prov. Eng. & Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Law Tennis) A game with but one player on each side; -- usually in the plural. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Baseball) A hit by a batter which enables him to reach first base only. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having simplicity of action; especially (Mach.), acting or exerting force during strokes in one direction only; -- said of a reciprocating engine, pump, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Lapping over the breast only far enough to permit of buttoning, and having buttons on one edge only; as, a single-breasted coast. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To proceed by means of the single-foot, as a horse or other quadruped. -- Sin"gle-foot`er, n. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

n. An irregular gait of a horse; -- called also single-footed pace. See Single, v. i. [ 1913 Webster ]

Single-foot is an irregular pace, rather rare, distinguished by the posterior extremities moving in the order of a fast walk, and the anterior extremities in that of a slow trot. Stillman (The Horse in Motion.) [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having but one hand, or one workman; also, alone; unassisted. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. By oneself; alone; unassisted. [ PJC ]

a. Having an honest heart; free from duplicity. -- Sin"gle-heart"ed*ly, adv. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having a single purpose; concentrating on a single goal; hence, artless; guileless; single-hearted. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being single-minded. [ PJC ]

n. 1. The quality or state of being single, or separate from all others; the opposite of doubleness, complication, or multiplicity. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Freedom from duplicity, or secondary and selfish ends; purity of mind or purpose; simplicity; sincerity; as, singleness of purpose; singleness of heart. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. See Single, n., 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. For unmarried persons, or catering especially to unmarried persons; as, a singles bar; a singles party. [ PJC ]

n. (a) In England and Scotland, a cudgel used in fencing or fighting; a backsword. (b) The game played with singlesticks, in which he who first brings blood from his adversary's head is pronounced victor; backsword; cudgeling. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having one surface; -- said specif. of aeroplanes or aerocurves that are covered with fabric, etc., on only one side. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. An unlined or undyed waistcoat; a single garment; -- opposed to doublet. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Pol. Econ.) A tax levied upon land alone, irrespective of improvements, -- advocated by certain economists as the sole source of public revenue.

Whatever may be thought of Henry George's single-tax theory as a whole, there can be little question that a relatively higher assessment of ground rent, with corresponding relief for those who have made improvements, is a much-needed reform. A. T. Hadley. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. In certain games at cards, as whist, a single card of any suit held at the deal by a player; as, to lead a singleton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. Swingletree. ] The pivoted or swinging bar to which the traces of a harnessed horse are fixed; a whiffletree. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ When two horses draw abreast, a singletree is fixed at each end of another crosspiece, called the doubletree. [ 1913 Webster ]