“single” – English explanatory dictionary

adj 1. one alone ○ He handed her a single sheet of paper. ○ There wasn’t a single person I knew at the party. ○ The single most important fact about him is that he has no money. □ every single each one ○ You will need every single penny you have to pay for the house. ○ Every single time I asked her out, she refused. 2. for one person only ○ Have you got a single room for two nights, please? ○ We prefer two single beds to a double bed. 3. not married ○ She’s twenty-nine and still single. ○ Are there any single men on the course? 4. □ in single figures less than ten ○ Inflation was over 20% but now it is down to single figures. ■ noun 1. a ticket for one journey ○ Two singles to Oxford Circus, please. 2. a record with one piece of music on it ○ The group’s first single went into the top ten. 3. (in cricket.) one run ○ He scored a single and won the match.

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. “No single man is born with a right of controlling the opinions of all the rest.” Pope.
2. Alone; having no companion. “Who single hast maintained,
Against revolted multitudes, the cause
Of truth.” Milton.
3. Hence, unmarried; as a single man or woman. “Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness.” Shak. “Single chose to live, and shunned to wed.” Dryden.
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.” Milton.
6. Uncompounded; pure; unmixed. “Simple ideas are opposed to complex, and single to compound.” I. Watts.
7. Not deceitful or artful; honest; sincere. “I speak it with a single heart.” Shak.
8. Simple; not wise; weak; silly. [Obs.] “He utters such single matter in so infantly a voice.” Beau. & Fl. Single ale, beer, or 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.

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.” Bacon. “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.” Hooker.
3. To take alone, or one by one. “Men … commendable when they are singled.” Hooker.

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.” W. S. Clark.

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.