Forms: 4–5 soul(e, 5 sool(l (sowle, soell), 5–6 soole, 5– sole. [a. OF. soul (fem. soule), sol (fem. sole), also sul, suel, seul (mod.F. seul, seule), = Prov. sol, Pg. só, Sp. and It. solo:—L. sōlum, acc. sing. of sōlus alone. In later use prob. to some extent directly from Latin.]

1

  1.  Having no husband or wife; single, unmarried; † celibate. Chiefly in legal use and freq. of women. Now rare or Obs.

2

  a.  In predicative use.

3

  The quotations in the first group illustrate the common phrase to live sole.

4

  (a)  c. 1386.  Chaucer, Merch. T., 836. Ne wold he that sche were love ne wyf, But ever lyve as wydow…, Soul as the turtil that lost hath hir make.

5

c. 1430.  Lydg., Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 134. And for it is an impossible To fynde ever suche a wyfe I wil live sowle duryng my lyfe.

6

1469.  Bury Wills (Camden), 45. Yf she will leve sowle withowth an husbonde.

7

1541.  Barnes, Wks. (1573), 311/2. I doe not reprooue that Priestes doth lyue sole.

8

1570–6.  Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 95. King Edward the Confessor (being otherwise of himself disposed to haue liued sole) tooke unto his wife Edgitha.

9

1655.  Fuller, Ch. Hist., IX. 163. Indeed Grindal, living, and dying sole, and single, could not be cockering to his own children.

10

  (b)  1418.  E. E. Wills (1882), 34. Ȝif Ionet my wif kepe here soole, withoute husbonde, Twelf-monthe after my decese.

11

1464.  Rolls of Parlt., V. 525/2. Eny Gyft or Graunte, by us to hir made while she was soule.

12

1520.  in Laing Charters (1899), 82. As longe as she kepeth hirselve sole and wydow.

13

1548.  Somerset, Epist. to Scots, B iij b. Yov wil not kepe her sole and vnmaried.

14

1596.  Bacon, Max. & Use Com. Law, ix. (1630), 42. The reason is, because shee was once sole.

15

1726.  Ayliffe, Parergon, 107. Some others are such as a Man cannot make his Wife, though he himself be sole and unmarry’d.

16

1827.  Jarman, Powell’s Devises, II. 289. That her said daughter Martha should pay unto her daughter Mary 30l. yearly, while sole and unmarried.

17

  b.  Attrib., or placed immediately after the sb. Woman sole, = feme-sole s.v. FEME.

18

  (a)  1464.  Rolls of Parlt., V. 548/2. As if she … were woman soule.

19

1509–10.  Act 1 Hen. VIII., c. 18 § 2. She [shall] be able … to sue in her owen name only as a Woman sole.

20

1628.  Coke, On Litt., 66. If a woman sole shall doe homage.

21

1642.  trans. Perkins’ Prof. Bk., i. § 47. 21. If a woman sole enfeoffe a stranger.

22

  (b)  1464.  Rolls of Parlt., V. 549/1. If she were or had been soule woman at the tyme. Ibid. (1485), VI. 285/2. The Countess shall hold … as anie other sole persone not covert of anie Husband.

23

1558.  in Feuillerat, Revels Q. Eliz. (1908), 7. Albeit he were a sole man without charge of wife or children.

24

1566.  Drant, Horace, Sat., II. v. H iij b. Least some shoulde replye agayne, That thou doest good to sole olde men.

25

1618.  J. Wilkinson, Coroners & Sherifes, II. 22. Where any … do make themselues to be beloved of any sole woman, as maide, or widow.

26

1753–4.  Richardson, Grandison (1781), I. xiv. 84. To what evils … might not I, a sole, an independent young woman, have been exposed?

27

  † c.  Of life: Pertaining to or involving celibacy.

28

  Common from c. 1550 to 1590.

29

1553.  T. Wilson, Rhet. (1580), 45. These lawes doe declare, how little it is for the common weales aduancement, that … a Citee should be lesned for loue of sole life.

30

1579.  W. Fulke, Ref. Rastel, 791. He which hath forsaken the profession of sole life, and fallen to … marriage.

31

1598.  Barckley, Felic. Man, V. (1603), 534. Some [men] like a sole life, others thinke it no life without a companion.

32

  2.  Without companions; apart from or unaccompanied by another or others; alone, solitary. Usually predicative.

33

  Common c. 1400–50, and freq. with the addition by himself or herself.

34

c. 1400.  Rom. Rose, 3023. He was not soole, for ther was moo; For with hym were other twoo.

35

1412–20.  Lydg., Chron. Troy, I. 29. The kyng … went allone In-to a wode for to make his mone, Sool by hym silfe.

36

1474.  Caxton, Chesse, IV. ii. (1883), 168. Whan the kynge hath goon so ferre that alle his men be lost, than he is sole.

37

1530.  Palsgr., 324/2. Sole, alone or solytary, seul.

38

1591.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. i. 77. Shall valiant Scipio Thus himselfe esteem, Never less sole then when he sole doth seem?

39

1650.  Howell, Fam. Lett., II. 121. I am oft times sole, but seldom solitary.

40

1716.  Pope, Iliad, VIII. 250. Sole should he sit, with scarce a God to friend.

41

1728–46.  Thomson, Spring, 722. All abandon’d to despair, she sings Her sorrows through the night; and on the bough, Sole-sitting [etc.].

42

1817.  Byron, Manfred, II. ii. 10. I should be sole in this sweet solitude.

43

1857.  Arnold, Rugby Chapel, Wks. (1890), 310. Sole they shall stray.

44

  attrib.  1609.  Bible (Douay), Baruch iv. 16. A wicked nation … which … have led away the beloved of the widow, and made the sole woman [L. unicam] desolate of children.

45

1789.  Triumphs Fortitude, I. 136. As I have none to accuse but myself, so none but myself (sole being as I am) can be involved in its consequences.

46

  † b.  Separated from another. Obs.1

47

c. 1407.  Lydg., Reson & Sens., 2703. I abood, Lefte al sool fro my maistresse.

48

  c.  Of places: Solitary, lonely; secluded.

49

1598.  Yong, Diana, 43. When I behold The place so sorrowfull and sole.

50

a. 1618.  J. Davies (Heref.), Wit’s Pilgr., Wks. (Grosart), II. 42/1. No State so holie, nor no place so Sole … but is full of Doubt.

51

1887.  Swinburne, Locrine, I. ii. 190. There is a bower … still and sole As love could choose for harbourage.

52

  3.  Being, or consisting of, one person only.

53

  Corporation sole: see CORPORATION 3.

54

1399.  Langl., R. Redeles, I. 62. All was felawis and felawschepe,… No soule persone to punnyshe þe wrongis.

55

1616.  R. C., Times’ Whistle (1871), 58. Although he had noe other company But his sole single selfe to satisfie.

56

1654.  Fuller, Two Serm., 6. No meere man by his sole selfe without Gods assistance.

57

1765.  Blackstone, Comm., I. 469. These [two powers] are very unnecessary to a corporation sole.

58

1861.  Ld. Brougham, Brit. Const., xvii. 272, n. Each chapter is a corporation aggregate, and each parson is a corporation sole.

59

  † b.  One sole, one and no more, one only, a single (person or thing). Obs.

60

c. 1450.  Merlin, vii. 110. Eche of yow is but oon sole man.

61

1450–80.  trans. Secreta Secret., xxvii. 20. Truste thou neuyr in oon sool ffisiciane.

62

1613.  W. Browne, Brit. Past., I. i. A jewell, which was never sent To be possest by one sole element.

63

1626.  C. Potter, trans. Sarpi’s Hist. Quarrels, 352. The Ambassador had not … disbursed one sole denier.

64

1639.  N. N., trans. Du Bosq’s Compl. Woman, I. F 4. Is there one sole word in all this worke, to … engender an evill thought?

65

  † 4.  In predicative or quasi-advb. use: With no other person or persons; without participator, partner, sharer, etc., in something, esp. in rights, duties or possessions. Obs.

66

c. 1450.  trans. De Imitatione, II. viii. 49. Lete ihesu be sool þy derlyng and þy special.

67

1450.  Rolls of Parlt., V. 190/1. Eny thyng by us to hym graunted soule, or by us graunted to hym and eny other person or persons joyntly with hym. Ibid. (1477), VI. 194/2. Every other persone to whose use the said Duke is sole seised in eny Castelles.

68

1642.  trans. Perkins’ Prof. Bk., iii. § 205. 92. One of the Chapter is sole seised in fee of his owne right of land.

69

1671.  Milton, P. R., I. 100. I, when no other durst, sole undertook The dismal expedition.

70

  † b.  Standing alone; uncontrolled by others.

71

1748.  Richardson, Clarissa, xiii. I. 74. My father himself could not bear that I should be made Sole, as I may call it, and independent.

72

  5.  One and only: a. Of things.

73

1497.  Bp. Alcock, Mons Perfect., C j/1. For ye sole ryghtwysnes is in him.

74

1592.  Soliman & Pers., II. i. The murtherer will escape Without reueuge, sole salue for such a sore.

75

1617.  Moryson, Itin., II. 113. Sir Arthur Chichester had taken the sole Castle held in those parts … by Brian mac Art.

76

1696.  Whiston, The. Earth, II. (1722), 185. This is the sole way of bringing natural Knowledge to perfection.

77

1726.  Swift, Gulliver, IV. xii. 188. But as my sole Intention was the PUBLICK GOOD, I cannot be altogether disappointed.

78

1798.  Ferriar, Varieties of Man, 223. Those who read for the sole purpose of talking.

79

1829.  Lytton, Devereux, I. iii. I believe my sole crime was candour.

80

1862.  Miller, Elem. Chem., Org. (ed. 2), iii. § 3. 177. In this case water and the compound ether are the sole products.

81

1883.  Gilmour, Mongols, xxiii. 285. He was … the sole support of his father.

82

  b.  Of persons.

83

1513.  Bradshaw, St. Werburge, II. 1506. Athalia … Commaunded to slee the kynges children all That she myght regne sole princesse imperiall.

84

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Hen. VI., 167 b. Lady Alice, the only child and sole heire of Thomas Montacute.

85

1596.  Spenser, F. Q., IV. xii. 30. For death t’ adward I ween’d did appertaine To none, but to the seas sole Soueraine.

86

1647.  in Verney Mem. (1907), I. 214. In that will my father was left sole executor.

87

1652.  Nicholas P. (Camden), 321. Ld Culpepper design’d by some both in France and Holland to be the K.’s great and sole minister in Holland.

88

1736.  Butler, Anal., II. vii. Wks. 1874, I. 351. The sole author of such a work.

89

1771.  Junius Lett., xlviii. (1788), 264. You have … maintained, that the house of commons are the sole judges of their own privileges.

90

1836.  Thirlwall, Greece, III. 233. Laches, now sole commander, landed a body of the allied troops on the Sicilian coast.

91

1839.  Fr. A. Kemble, Resid. in Georgia (1863), 74. The sole manager of these estates.

92

1892.  Photogr. Ann., II. 399. Sent to me by Mr. Scholzig, who is their sole agent.

93

  absol.  1667.  Milton, P. L., V. 28. O Sole in whom my thoughts find all repose!

94

  c.  Singular, unique, unrivaled.

95

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIX. cxvi. (1495), 921. This vnyte [of the Trinity] muste be sole and synguler wythout pere.

96

1595.  Shaks., John, IV. iii. 52. This [murder] so sole, and so vnmatcheable.

97

1667.  Milton, P. L., V. 272. He seems A Phœnix, gaz’d by all, as that sole Bird When … to Ægyptian Theb’s he flies.

98

1851.  Mrs. Browning, Casa Guidi Wind., II. 487. The priestly ephod in sole glory swept, When Christ ascended.

99

1867.  Howells, Ital. Journ., 178. There is a lovely palm-tree, rare, if not sole in that latitude.

100

1870.  Deutsch, Rem. (1874), 193. God is sole of His kind.

101

  † d.  Placed before a sb., in the sense of ‘alone’ following it. Obs. rare.

102

c. 1586.  C’tess Pembroke, Ps. CXIX. iii. Since thy sole edicts containe it, Who search not them how can they gaine it?

103

1634.  Sir T. Hawkins, Pol. Observ., 3. That mountaine of fortune which is to be aimed at by sole vertue.

104

  † 6.  Of things, qualities, etc.: Unaccompanied by other things or qualities; standing alone. Obs.

105

  (a)  1542.  Boorde, Dyetary, x. (1870), 252. Water is not holsome, sole by it selfe.

106

1562.  J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1906), 148. Wisdom and folly in thee Is as it were a thing by itself sool.

107

  (b)  1590.  Swinburne, Testaments, 148. When the testator doth not referre his disposition to the sole onelye will of another person,… but to the concreate will, or will ioyned with fact.

108

1592.  West, 1st Pt. Symbol., § 21 c, Hereupon contracts by consent are defined [as] contracts hauing cause placed in sole consent.

109

1609.  Bible (Douay), Gen. ii. 17, comm. Neither could it … be better … signified how bad a thing sole disobedience is [etc.].

110

1622.  in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.), I. 209. He seeks no other caution or security than the King’s sole word.

111

  7.  Of things, rights, duties, etc.: Pertaining or due to, possessed or exercised by, vested in, etc., one person or corporate body to the exclusion of all others; exclusive.

112

1597.  Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lvi. § 5. Euery of them may haue their sole and seuerall possessions.

113

1611.  Knolles, Hist. Turkes (1638), 167. Vpon any ambitious conceit, or desire of the sole Gouernment.

114

a. 1661.  Fuller, Worthies, Eng., vi. (1662), 19. This power was sometime sole in a single person and sometimes equally in two together.

115

1766.  Blackstone, Comm., II. 216. The right of sole succession … was also established with respect to female dignities and titles of honour.

116

1788.  Reid, Aristotle’s Logic, IV. i. 67. A theory of which he claims the sole invention.

117

1818.  Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), I. 486. Where an estate is vested in trustees, for the sole and separate use of a married woman.

118

1867.  Ruskin, Time & Tide, xxiii. § 154. Supreme judges … exercising sole authority in courts of final appeal.

119

1879.  Athenæum, 6 Sept., 304/3. The present postage system is the sole and undisputed invention of Sir Rowland Hill.

120

  b.  Similarly of actions.

121

1562.  Apol. Priv. Masse (1850), 9. But you have the other signification of this term private: that is the sole receiving of the sacrament by the priest.

122

1621.  in Elsing, Lords’ Deb. (Camden), App. 153. The priviledge of the sole printing of the Bible.

123

1651.  Hobbes, Leviath., II. xxii. 119. The End of their Incorporating, is to make their gaine the greater,… by sole buying, and sole selling, both at home, and abroad.

124

1825.  Scott, Betrothed, xvii. A good housewife, who … will sometimes even condescend to dress a dish for her husband’s sole eating.

125

  8.  Uniform or unvaried.

126

1845.  Mrs. S. C. Hall, Whiteboy, I. v. 76. Land … at one time covered with the snowy blossoms of the wild-rush, and at others exhibiting a sole surface of dark brown peat.

127

1885.  Miss Gatty, Juliana H. Ewing, III. 57. He was required to distemper the walls of the drawing-room with a sole colour.

128

  9.  In quasi-advb. use: Solely.

129

1562.  J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 203. To shew thy thrift soole.

130

1581.  A. Hall, Iliad, II. 31. The burden great, his brother then did beare Sole for his sake in these turmoyles.

131

1812.  Cary, Dante, Parad., V. 22. Liberty of will; the boon, wherewith All intellectual creatures, and them sole,… [God] hath endow’d.

132

1820.  Byron, Morg. Mag., xxv. Think not they lived on locusts sole.

133

1827.  Pollok, Course T., VIII. Good and bad … distinguished sole the sons Of men.

134

  10.  Comb. a. With vbl. sbs. and pres. pples., as sole-being, -speaking; sole-justifying, -lying, -reigning, -ruling, etc.

135

1534.  Whitinton, Tullyes Offices, I. (1540), 71. He wolde flye fro solytarynesse and soole beyng, and wolde seke out a felowe of his study.

136

c. 1586.  C’tess Pembroke, Ps. XLVII. i. God,… Who high and highlie feared stands, Of all the earth sole-ruling king.

137

1596.  Edward III., II. i. C 3 b. Your progenitour Sole ragning Adam.

138

1625.  B. Jonson, Staple of N., III. iv. (1631), 48. He has the monopoly of sole-speaking. Why, good Sir? you talke all.

139

1642.  J. Eaton, Honey-c. Free Justif., 427. The only soule-saving, and sole-saving voice of Christ.

140

1811.  J. P. Malcolm, Mann. & Cust. London (ed. 2), II. ii. 20. He was instructed by Bradwardin in the true nature of sole-justifying faith.

141

1831.  Wordsw., To B. R. Haydon, 8. The one Man that laboured to enslave The World, sole-standing high on the bare hill.

142

1859.  G. Meredith, R. Feverel, II. vi. 103. Two swallows, mates in one nest, blissful birds who twittered cheep-cheeped to the sole-lying beauty in her bed.

143

  b.  With pa. pples., etc., as sole-begotten, -commissioned, -seated, -thoughted; also sole-happy, -selfly, -sufficient.

144

1597.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. iii. 1123. And Death … Comes very late to his sole-seated Lodge. Ibid. (1605), II. iii. I. Vocation, 1114. Nor as inviron’d,… But rather, as sole-selfly limited, And joyn’d to place. Ibid. (1606), iv. II. Magnificence, 987. Sole-happy Causes of this sumptuous Feast.

145

1631.  Eng. Primer of Our Lady, 29. Glorie to th’vnbegotten Father, And to His sole begotten sonne.

146

a. 1635.  R. Sibbes, Confer. Christ & Mary (1654), 158. God is all-sufficient, self-sufficient, sole-sufficient.

147

1711.  Shaftesb., Charact. (1737), III. 340. Is it true … that their excellencys of the present establishment are the sole-commission’d?

148

1820.  Keats, Eve of St. Agnes, v. These let us wish away, And turn, sole-thoughted, to one Lady there.

149

  c.  Special combs., as † sole-sale, a monopoly; † sole-talk, a soliloquy; sole-colo(u)red a., of a single uniform color; self-colored.

150

1596.  Bp. W. Barlow, Three Serm., ii. 49. The intollerable licenses of Monopoles and Solesales.

151

1608.  T. Rogers (title), Soliloquium Animæ; The sole-talke of the Soule.

152

1885.  Miss Gatty, Juliana H. Ewing, III. 57. The sole-coloured walls well covered with pictures.

153


  Sole, variant of SOL a., dirty. Obs.

154