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Single
Definitions
- 1 Not accompanied by anything else; one in number. not-comparable
"Can you give me a single reason not to leave right now?"
- 2 Not divided in parts. not-comparable
"The potatoes left the spoon and landed in a single big lump on the plate."
- 3 Designed for the use of only one. not-comparable
"a single room"
- 4 Performed by one person, or one on each side. not-comparable
"a single combat"
- 5 Not married, and (in modern times) not dating or without a significant other. not-comparable
"Forms often ask if a person is single, married, divorced, or widowed. In this context, a person who is dating someone but who has never married puts "single"."
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- 6 Having only one rank or row of petals. not-comparable
- 7 Simple and honest; sincere, without deceit. not-comparable, obsolete
"Therefore, when thyne eye is single: then is all thy boddy full off light. Butt if thyne eye be evyll: then shall all thy body be full of darknes?"
- 8 Uncompounded; pure; unmixed. not-comparable
"simple ideas are opposed to complex , and single ideas to compound."
- 9 Simple; foolish; weak; silly. not-comparable, obsolete
"He utters such single matter in so infantly a voice."
- 1 being or characteristic of a single thing or person wordnet
- 2 not divided among or brought to bear on more than one object or objective wordnet
- 3 not married or related to the unmarried state wordnet
- 4 having uniform application wordnet
- 5 characteristic of or meant for a single person or thing wordnet
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- 6 existing alone or consisting of one entity or part or aspect or individual wordnet
- 7 used of flowers having usually only one row or whorl of petals wordnet
- 1 A surname from Old English.
- 1 A 45 RPM vinyl record with one song on side A and one on side B.
- 2 a base hit on which the batter stops safely at first base wordnet
- 3 A popular song released and sold (on any format) nominally on its own though usually having at least one extra track.
"The Offspring released four singles from their most recent album."
- 4 the smallest whole number or a numeral representing this number wordnet
- 5 One who is not married or does not have a romantic partner.
"He went to the party, hoping to meet some friendly singles there."
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- 6 A score of one run.
"He refused to take a single as the ball was dropped by his opponent's best fielder."
- 7 A hit in baseball where the batter advances to first base.
- 8 A tile that has a different value (i.e. number of pips) at each end.
- 9 A bill valued at $1. US, informal
"I don't have any singles, so you'll have to make change."
- 10 A one-way ticket. UK
"‘I want to know, Mr Stone, if, in the course of the day, you have issued any tickets to a person dressed in Arab costume?’ His reply was prompt. ‘I have — by the last train, the 7.25, — three singles.’"
- 11 A score of one point, awarded when a kicked ball is dead within the non-kicking team's end zone or has exited that end zone. Canadian
- 12 A game with one player on each side, as in tennis. in-plural
"After tea, Mrs. Inglethorp went to lie down to rest before her efforts in the evening and I challenged Mary Cavendish to a single at tennis."
- 13 One of the reeled filaments of silk, twisted without doubling to give them firmness.
- 14 A handful of gleaned grain. Scotland, UK, dialectal
- 15 A floating-point number having half the precision of a double-precision value.
"If you want to be a scientist or an engineer, learn to say “no” to singles and floats."
- 16 A shot of only one character.
"But if the same scene is shot in singles (or “over-the-shoulder” shots where one of the actors is only a lumpy shoulder in the foreground), the editor and the director can almost redirect the scene on film."
- 17 A single cigarette.
- 18 Synonym of single-driver. obsolete
"A few such examples have been preserved, as is well known, such as one of the Stirling 8-ft. singles of the late Great Northern Railway, the Great Western 4-4-0 City of Truro, ex-Caledonian single-driver No. 123, the Brighton 0-4-2 Gladstone, and others."
- 1 To get a hit that advances the batter exactly one base.
"Pedro singled in the bottom of the eighth inning, which, if converted to a run, would put the team back into contention."
- 2 hit a single wordnet
- 3 To thin out.
"Paul went joyfully, and spent the afternoon helping to hoe or to single turnips with his friend."
- 4 To take the irregular gait called singlefoot.
"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."
- 5 To sequester; to withdraw; to retire. archaic, intransitive
"an agent singling itself from consorts"
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- 6 To take alone, or one by one; to single out. archaic, intransitive
"men […] commendable when they are singled"
- 7 To reduce (a railway) to single track. transitive
"In the east of Yorkshire, Mr. A. M. Ross reports the belief of local railwaymen that the N.E.R. plans to single the York-Beverley line, leaving an adequate provision of passing loops, and to operate it by C.T.C. from York; […]"
Etymology
From Middle English single, sengle, from Old French sengle, saingle, sangle, from Latin singulus, a diminutive derived from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one”). Akin to Latin simplex (“simple”). See simple, and compare singular.
From Middle English single, sengle, from Old French sengle, saingle, sangle, from Latin singulus, a diminutive derived from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one”). Akin to Latin simplex (“simple”). See simple, and compare singular.
From Middle English single, sengle, from Old French sengle, saingle, sangle, from Latin singulus, a diminutive derived from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one”). Akin to Latin simplex (“simple”). See simple, and compare singular.
From Old English sengel (“brushwood; burnt clearing”), a topographic surname for someone who lived by a brushwood.
See also for "single"
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Unscramble this word: single