dole

Etymology 1

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 Old Church Slavonic дѣлити (děliti, “divide”). More at deal.

verb

1. To distribute in small amounts; to share out small portions of a meager resource.

noun

1. 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
2. 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.
3. (informal) 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.
   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
4. 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
5. (Britain, dialectal) A void space left in tillage.

Etymology 2

From Middle English doell (“grief”), from Old French doel (compare French deuil), from Late Latin dolus, from Latin doleo.

noun

1. (archaic) A Sorrow or grief; dolour.
   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
2. (law, Scotland) Dolus.