Sin"gle (?), 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, ∨ 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.
© Webster 1913.
Sin"gle, 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.
© Webster 1913.
Sin"gle, 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.
© Webster 1913.
Sin"gle, 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. LawTennis 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.
© Webster 1913. | 
