Definition of "dole"

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 benevolent 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, […], page 308

At her general dole, / Each receives his ancient soul.

c. 1650s, John Cleveland, Upon Phillis Walking in a Morning before Sun-rising

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, […], page 26

From the ice age to the dole age / There is but one concern / I have just discovered

1986, Morrissey, Johnny Marr (lyrics and music), “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

Sort your shit out, then roll / Sex, drugs, and on the dole / Some men rise, some men fall

2002, “Has It Come to This?”, in Mike Skinner (lyrics), Original Pirate Material, performed by The Streets

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, published 1684, paragraph 19, page 73

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

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