Single /(?)/

Sin·gle

Single

a.
  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.

Phrases & Compounds
Single ale
small ale, etc., as contrasted with double ale, etc., which is stronger.
Single bill
a written engagement, generally under seal, for the payment of money, without a penalty.
Single court
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
a flower with but one set of petals, as a wild rose.
Single knot
See Illust. under Knot.
Single whip
a single rope running through a fixed block.

Single

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.
    Dogs who hereby can single out their master in the dark.
    His blood! she faintly screamed her mind Still singling one from all mankind.
    — More.
  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.
  1. 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.
    — W. S. Clark.

Single

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