lone
verbEtymology Shortened from alone.
1
Only used in lone it
lone
adjUK /ləʊn/ · US /loʊn/
Etymology Shortened from alone.
7 senses
1
Solitary; having no companion.
- a lone traveler or watcher
- When I have on those pathless wilds appeared, / And the lone wanderer with my presence cheered.1741, William Shenstone, The Judgment of Hercules:
2 more examples
- The Bat—they called him the Bat.[…]. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 01:
- The director of a school in Thailand's central province of Sing Buri is in police custody under suspicion of being the lone perpetrator of a gold shop robbery at a mall in Lop Buri province on January 9th, during which three people, including a two-year old^([sic]) boy, were murdered and four others [were] wounded.2020 January 22, “School director arrested as a suspect in Lop Buri gold shop robbery”, in Thai PBS World, Bangkok: Thai Public Broadcasting Service, retrieved 22 Jan 2020:
2
Isolated or lonely; lacking companionship.
3
Sole; being the only one of a type.
- the lone male audience member at the concert
4
Situated by itself or by oneself, with no neighbours.
- a lone house; a lone isle
- By a lone wall a lonelier column rears.1816, Lord Byron, “Canto III”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Third, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […], →OCLC, stanza LXV:
5
Archaic Unfrequented by human beings; solitary.
- Thus vanish sceptres, coronets, and balls, / And leave you on lone woods, or empty walls.c. 1715, Alexander Pope, Epistle To Mrs Teresa Blount:
- He made a turn or two in the shop, and looked for Hope among the instruments; but they obstinately worked out reckonings for the missing ship, in spite of any opposition he could offer, that ended at the bottom of the lone sea.1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:
6
Archaic Single; unmarried, or in widowhood.
- Queen Elizabeth being a lone woman.Collection of Records (1642)
- A hundred mark is a long one for a poor lone woman to bear.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
7
Government, Politics Philippines Not divided into multiple districts.
Of an election or elected position
- lone congressional district
- Synonyms
- only
- Derived terms
- Lone Butte, lone gunman, lone it, loneness, lone pair, loner, lone rangering, lone star tick, lone wolf, Lone Wolf, no-lone zone