Etymology From Middle English dol, from Old English dāl (“portion, share, division, allotment”), from Proto-Germanic *dailą (“part, deal”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰayl- (“part, watershed”). Cognate with Polish dola (“fate, cut”), Old Church Slavonic дѣлити (děliti, “divide”). More at deal. First attested in the late 12th c. The verb is first attested in the mid-15th c.
1
Distribution; dealing; apportionment.
c. 1650s, John Cleveland, Upon Phillis Walking in a Morning before Sun-rising At her general dole, / Each receives his ancient soul.
2
Distribution of alms or gifts.
Go not away, thou weary soul: / Heaven has in store a precious dole / Even on Bethsaida's cold and darksome height, [...]1827, [John Keble], “Seventh Sunday after Trinity”, in The Christian Year: Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holydays throughout the Year, volume II, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [B]y W. Baxter, for J. Parker; and C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington, […], →OCLC, page 26:
3
Broadly Money or other goods given as charity.
So sure the dole, so ready at their call, / They stood prepar'd to see the manna fall.c. 1690, John Dryden, Eleonora:
Devereux […] was beholden, not only for his fun, but occasionally for his daily bread and even his liberty, to those benovolent^([sic]) doles.1863, J[oseph] Sheridan Le Fanu, “In Which Captain Devereux’s Fiddle Plays a Prelude to ‘Over the Hills and Far Away’”, in The House by the Church-yard. […], volume I, London: Tinsley, Brothers, […], →OCLC, pages 307–308:
4
Informal, Often, With the Payment by the state to the unemployed; unemployment benefits.
I get my dole paid twice a week.
I've been on the dole for two years now.
4 more examples
So, we are being fobbed off by second-rate American junk by smart aleck salesman from Pittsburgh while British factories stand empty and British workmen queue up for the dole.1980 February 25, Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn, “Open Government”, in Yes Minister, season 1, episode 1, spoken by Jim Hacker (Paul Eddington):
From the ice age to the dole age / There is but one concern / I have just discovered1986, Morrissey, Johnny Marr, “Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others”, in The Queen is Dead, performed by The Smiths:
The men sit because they′re worn out from walking to the Labour Exchange every morning to sign for the dole, discussing the world’s problems and wondering what to do with the rest of the day.1996, Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes, page 107:
The FY 1997/98 Commonwealth budget allocated funding of A$ 21.6 million to the Work for the Dole initiative for unemployed young people.1997, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD Economic Surveys: Australia, page 67:
5
A boundary; a landmark.
Curſed be he which tranſlateth the bounds and dolles of his Neighbor.1559, “Injunctions Given by the Queens Majesty, Concerning both the Clergy and Laity, of This Realm, Published Anno Domini Mdlix. being the First Year of the Raign of Our Soveraign Lady Queen Elizabeth”, in Anth[ony] Sparrow, compiler, A Collection of Articles, Injunctions, Canons, Orders, Ordinances, & Constitutions Ecclesiastical, with Other Publick Records of the Church of England, […], 4th edition, London: […] Blanch Rawlet […], published 1684, →OCLC, paragraph 19, page 73:
Etymology From Middle English dol, from Old English dāl (“portion, share, division, allotment”), from Proto-Germanic *dailą (“part, deal”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰayl- (“part, watershed”). Cognate with Polish dola (“fate, cut”), Old Church Slavonic дѣлити (děliti, “divide”). More at deal. First attested in the late 12th c. The verb is first attested in the mid-15th c.
1
To distribute alms, etc., in small amounts; to share out small portions of a meager resource.
2
To distribute (as, alms) in small amounts; to share out (small portions of a meager resource).
Syr said sir gyngalyn I wote not what knyȝt he was / but wel I wote that he sygheth and maketh grete dole. "Sir, said Sir Gingalin, I wot not what knight he was, but well I wot that he sigheth, and maketh great dole."1485, Thomas Malory, William Caxton, Le Morte Darthur, Book IX, Chapter xvii, leaf 183r:
But ten slow mornings past, and on the eleventh / Her father laid the letter in her hand, / And closed the hand upon it, and she died. / So that day there was dole in Astolat.a. 1885, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Lancelot and Elaine”, in Idylls of the King:
1 more example
These knights he keepeth there in great dole and misery, for it is said that their groans may be heard by the passers along the high-road below the castle.1905, Howard Pyle, “The Story of Launcelot”, in The Story of the Champions of the Round Table, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, page 46: