DOLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does dole mean? 

• DOLE (noun)
  The noun DOLE has 2 senses:

1. a share of money or food or clothing that has been charitably given

2. money received from the state

  Familiarity information: DOLE used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DOLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A share of money or food or clothing that has been charitably given

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Hypernyms ("dole" is a kind of...):

part; percentage; portion; share (assets belonging to or due to or contributed by an individual person or group)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Money received from the state

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

dole; pogey; pogy

Hypernyms ("dole" is a kind of...):

public assistance; social welfare; welfare (governmental provision of economic assistance to persons in need)

 Context examples 

Nature had surely formed her in a partial mood; and, forgetting her usual stinted step-mother dole of gifts, had endowed this, her darling, with a grand-dame's bounty.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)