dole

/dol/

UK: [dɒʊl]

dole

English Verb Top 17,735

Definition

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

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