† lonen.
Obsolete. rare.
Concealment; = lain n.1
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > keeping from knowledge > [noun]
coverture1393
laina1400
coveringc1400
palliation?c1425
lainingc1440
lonea1450
hudder-mudder1461
hugger-mugger1529
concealment1565
celation1567
hugger1576
burial1596
smothering1602
suppression1651
disguisal1652
hugger-mug1654
latitancy1701
cover-up1927
wraps1939
a1450 Le Morte Arth. 1124 The kyng than tolde wythout lone to alle hys barons..how [etc.].
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1903; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
loneadj.
/ləʊn/, U.S. /loʊn/ 1. figurative.1879 B. F. Taylor Summer-savory xv. 122 In fact, in pretty nearly all his plays he had a ‘lone hand’.1888 R. Kipling Barrack-room Ballads (1892) 118 A lone-hand raid of the rearmost cart.1892 J. Murdoch From Austral. & Japan i. 271 I wasn't playing a lone hand in that game, and so I just allowed I wouldn't marry that girl just then.1901 Contemp. Rev. Dec. 863 I am going to play a lone-hand, and intend being my own Commandant and Veldt Cornet and everything else.1916 Brit. Dominions Year Bk. 1917 243 Lone-hand raids on Constantinople.1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xv. [Circe] 439 This is a lonehand fight.
a. Of persons, their condition, situation, etc.: Having no fellows or companions; without company; solitary. Chiefly poetic and rhetorical.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > lack of social communication or relations > solitude or solitariness > [adjective]
onlyOE
alonec1175
solitarya1340
lone1377
ledelessc1400
fellowless?c1425
savage1535
neighbourless1550
private1599
discompanied1601
unattended1603
disaccompanied1605
lonelya1616
marrowless?1635
companionless1644
unneighboured1657
unaccompanied1709
unescorted1774
uncompanioned1822
comradeless1891
1377 W. Langland Piers Plowman B. xvi. 20 I..laye longe in a lone dreme.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 317/2 Lone onely, seul.
1616 J. Bullokar Eng. Expositor Lone,..single or solitarie.
1622 J. Mabbe tr. M. Alemán Rogue ii. 337 I was not a lone man in this my afflictions, but had many fellowes that suffered the like torment.
1740 W. Shenstone Judgm. Hercules 335 When I have on those pathless wilds appear'd And the lone wand'rer with my presence cheer'd.
1749 T. Smollett Regicide ii. iv. 22 With not one Friend his Sorrows to divide, And chear his lone Distress?
1764 O. Goldsmith Traveller 4 As some lone miser visiting his store.
1814 Sporting Mag. 43 261 I found myself a lone man, much at a loss.
1837 B. Disraeli Venetia I. 70 She felt for this lone child.
1863 T. Woolner My Beautiful Lady 109 Dim in lowlands far Lone marsh-birds winged their misty flight.
1882 ‘Ouida’ In Maremma I. 248 We trusted an old lone creature.
1901 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. June 785/2 Two lone Englishmen in the same house, not on speaking terms.
b. to play, hold a lone hand: in Quadrille and Euchre, to play against all the other players, or against the opposite side without help from one's own. Hence lone hand, lone player are used = a person playing such a game.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > lack of social communication or relations > solitude or solitariness > live, act, or work alone [verb (intransitive)]
to play, hold a lone hand1799
lone wolf1909
society > society and the community > social relations > lack of social communication or relations > solitude or solitariness > [noun] > person > who does something alone
lone hand1799
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > ombre and quadrille > play at quadrille [verb (intransitive)] > play lone hand
to play, hold a lone hand1799
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > euchre > [verb (intransitive)] > actions in euchre
to play, hold a lone hand1799
assist1878
1799 J. West Tale of Times I. 217 Sir Simon..was remarkably partial to holding a lone-hand [at quadrille].
1830 R. Hardie Hoyle made Familiar 37 [Quadrille.] When playing against a lone hand, never lead a king, unless you have the queen.
1886 Euchre: how to play it 41 Suppose a player, being four, and his adversaries nothing, plays a lone hand and makes his five tricks.
1886 Euchre: how to play it 108 Lone Hand, a hand so strong in trumps alone, or in trumps, guarded by high cards of a lay suit, that it will probably win five tricks if its holder plays alone. Lone player, the one playing without his partner.
c. Having a feeling of loneliness; lonesome.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > dejection > [adjective] > caused by solitude
lonesome1647
lonely1811
lonea1839
society > society and the community > social relations > lack of social communication or relations > solitude or solitariness > [adjective] > feeling lonely
lonesome1647
lonely1811
lonea1839
a1839 W. M. Praed Poems (1864) II. 84 When the lone heart, in that long strife, Shall cling unconsciously to life.
a1839 W. M. Praed Poems (1864) II. 382 And there my fond mother Sits pensive and lone.
1845 T. Hood Last Man xxxiv I never felt so lone.
1859 E. Bulwer-Lytton What will he do with It? (1st Edinb. ed.) I. i. xii. 86 I'd rather stay with you, Grandy; you'll be so lone.
2. Unmarried; single or widowed. Now only of women, with mock-pathetic reference to sense 1.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > unmarried person(s) > unmarried man > [adjective]
wifelessOE
lone1548
unwived1570
brideless1827
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > unmarried person(s) > unmarried woman > [adjective] > without a husband
lordlessOE
sole1464
uncovert1485
lone1548
discovert1632
unhusbanded1797
1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Luke xviii. 1–8 I am a poore wedowe and alone woman destitute of frendes.
1588 M. Kyffin tr. Terence Andria ii. iii. sig. E.iiv This Glycerie is a lone woman.
1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 ii. i. 32 A hundred marke is a long one, for a poore lone woman to beare. View more context for this quotation
1611 W. Sclater Key (1629) 128 That is but necessarie for a master of a familie, that is superfluous for a lone man.
1642 Coll. Rec. Great Misfortunes Kings (title page) Queen Elizabeth being a lone woman, and having few friends, refusing to marry.
a1825 R. Forby Vocab. E. Anglia (1830) Lone-woman, a woman unmarried or without a male protector.
1847 J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words I. (at cited word) Lone-man, a man living unmarried by himself.
1859 A. Helps Friends in Council New Ser. I. i. 55 Men highly-placed little know..what a trouble it is for lone women [to estimate their incomes].
3.
a. Standing apart from others of its kind; isolated. Formerly esp. in lone house (sometimes hyphenated).
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > one > condition of being alone > [adjective] > isolated
solec1407
lonely1645
lone1668
isolated1763
apart1786
isolate1819
shut-out1853
disconnected1919
1668 A. Wood Life & Times (1892) II. 143 This Cooper's hill is a lone-house.
1717 A. Pope Corr. 13 Sept. (1956) I. 427 No lone House in Wales, with a Mountain & a Rookery, is more contemplative than this Court.
1722 D. Defoe Jrnl. Plague Year 228 In a single, or as we call it a loan House.
1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations I. i. iii. 21 In the lone houses..in..the highlands. View more context for this quotation
1813 Sketches of Character (ed. 2) I. 138 'Twas a lone house, in a garden, with walls round it.
1819 Sporting Mag. 4 274 A little lone public-house, about a mile from our village.
1850 H. T. Cheever Whale & his Captors viii. 134 Dragging the lone boat quite out of sight from the mast-head.
1853 M. Arnold Scholar Gipsy in Poems (new ed.) 204 At some lone alehouse in the Berkshire moors.
b. lone star, the single star on the state flag of Texas, hence called the Lone Star State. Also Lone Star Stater, a Texan.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > indication > insignia > [noun] > specific emblems, badges, or cognizances > regional
lone star1845
the world > the earth > named regions of earth > America > North America > [noun] > United States > specific states > Texas
Lone Star State1845
the world > people > nations > native or inhabitant of America > native or inhabitant of North America > native or inhabitant of U.S.A. > [noun] > specific state > states
Marylander1640
Rhode Islander1665
Jerseyman1679
Pennsylvanian1685
Carolinian1705
Georgian1732
Marylandian1750
Jersey blue1758
Californian1762
Louisianian1775
Mississippian1775
Acadian1776
Vermonteer1778
Kentuckian1779
Vermontese1783
Indianian1784
Cohee1786
Kentuck1789
Virginian1797
Michiganian1813
Michigan1814
Tennessean1815
Ohioan1818
Illinoian1819
Ohian1819
Missourian1820
buckeye1823
Vermonter1825
Hoosier1826
red horse1833
sucker1833
wolverine1833
puke1834
corn-cracker1835
Texian1835
Alaskan1836
Texan1837
Michigander1838
Oregonian1838
Rackensack1839
Arkansian1844
badger1844
Bay Stater1845
Lone Star Stater1845
Oregonese1845
tar-boiler1845
weasel1845
web foot1845
Alabaman1846
Iowanc1848
Arkansan1851
Minnesotian1851
Washingtonian1852
Minnesotan1854
Nebraskan1854
Kansian1855
Utahan1855
Floridan1856
fly-up-the-creek1857
Dakotian1861
Coloradan1862
Coloradian1862
Texican1863
Coloradoan1864
tarheel1864
Cajun1868
Kansan1868
Montanian1869
Floridian1870
mudcat1872
New Jerseyan1872
Arkansawyer1874
longhorn1876
Mainer1879
New Jerseyite1885
prune picker1892
Hawaiian1893
Oklahoman1894
Tex1909
blue hen's chicken1921
Tejano1925
Geechee1926
Arkie1927
sooner1930
wyomingite1930
New Mexican1940
Okie1948
1845 Congress. Globe 28th Congress 2 Sess. App. 78/3 The ‘lone star’ has found a place upon the democratic banners.
1848 Congress. Globe 30th Congress 1 Sess. App. 973/1 Texas was then a ‘lone star’. She is now one of thirty.
1852 W. B. Dewees & ‘C. Cardelle’ Lett. from Early Settler Texas 246 The lone star of Texas shall continue to wave proudly in the air as long as one brave Texan remains to defend it.
1860 Congress. Globe 5 Dec. 11/3 There is a clog in the way of the lone-star State of Texas in the person of her Governor.
1873 J. H. Beadle Undeveloped West 805 I am proud to find him in honor and position among the ‘Lone Star Staters’.
1873 Z. N. Morrell Flowers & Fruits (ed. 2) 20 Sam. Houston was then in Texas..intending..to set in motion ‘a little two-horse republic under the Lone Star’.
1886 B. P. Poore Perley's Reminisc. I. 315 It took him only from February 28th to April 12th to conclude the negotiation which placed the ‘Lone Star’ in the azure field of the ensign of the Republic.
1909 ‘O. Henry’ Roads of Destiny xvi. 267 The Lone Star State never yet failed to grant relief, [etc.].
1943 B. House (title) I give you Texas: 500 jokes of the Lone Star State.
1971 Times 21 Sept. (Ireland Suppl.) 1/4 Two experts from Texas are using Cork as a base..appropriate, since co Cork has always had some of the aggressive independence of the lone star state.
c. lone wolf n. (originally U.S.) figurative, (a) one who mixes little with others, keeps himself to himself; (b) a criminal who operates alone; also attributive. Hence (with hyphen) as v. intransitive, to live, work, operate, etc., alone.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > lack of social communication or relations > solitude or solitariness > live, act, or work alone [verb (intransitive)]
to play, hold a lone hand1799
lone wolf1909
the mind > goodness and badness > wrongdoing > criminality > criminal person > [noun] > lone
lone wolf1909
society > society and the community > social relations > lack of social communication or relations > solitude or solitariness > [noun] > person > who prefers to be alone
solitudinarian1691
lone wolf1909
lone ranger1924
loner1947
society > law > rule of law > lawlessness > [noun] > crime > a criminal or law-breaker > other types of criminal
felon1297
misdemeanor1533
misfeasor1631
Alsatian1688
cosh-man1869
strong arm1893
street man1904
war criminal1906
Raffles1907
lone wolf1909
muscle man1929
single-o1930
hot rod1936
cosh1937
muscle boy1940
muscle1942
cosh-boy1953
cosh-bandit1954
slag1955
frightener1962
scammer1972
shonk1981
bail bandit1991
1909 F. H. Tillotson How to be a Detective 130 Occasionally the police run across Panhandlers known as ‘lone wolves’—that is they do not mix with others of their class.
1927 Dial. Notes 5 454 Lone wolf, a bandit or house breaker who works without confederates.
1931 Times Lit. Suppl. 28 May 415/3 He was the ‘lone wolf’ of the campaign for federation.
1938 Amer. Speech 13 195 Lone-wolf v.
1938 E. Bowen Death of Heart ii. iv. 249 I am quite enough of a lone wolf as it is.
1944 R. F. Adams Western Words 93/1 Lone-wolfing, living alone, avoiding companionship of others.
1950 ‘S. Ransome’ Deadly Miss Ashley iii. 35 He had been given hardly a dime's worth of information by the lone-wolf doctor.
1953 A. Baron Human Kind xvii. 121 They despised his ignorance, his vices and his pitiless lone-wolf philosophy.
1955 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. No. 24. x. 166 She is..a kind of lone wolf thief.
1955 Times 11 July 10/1 A ‘lone wolf’ terrorist.
1959 Streetwalker viii. 154 He's no lone wolf from Leeds or anywhere else.
1959 N. Mailer Advts. for Myself (1961) 408 The lone-wolf hope that we can begin to explore a little more.
1966 J. Philips Wings of Madness ii. iv. 131 You are in very serious danger if you try to lone-wolf it.
1966 G. Burnett Dead Acct. vii. 51 Remember what I said..no lone-wolfing, no withholding information.
1970 G. F. Newman Sir, You Bastard i. 19 An individualist to be watched unless he should develop into too much of a lone wolf.
1973 J. Rossiter Manipulators ii. 21 Detective Inspector De Moro..had given him a preliminary reprimand about lone-wolfing operations.
d. lone pair n. Physical Chemistry a pair of electrons in the outer shell of an atom which are not involved in bonding.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical bonding > [noun] > bonds > electrons in bonding
octet1919
lone pair1923
1923 Chem. & Industry Rev. 2 Nov. 1051/1 A basic substance is one which has a lone pair of electrons which may be used to complete the stable group of another atom.
1964 J. W. Linnett Electronic Struct. Molecules ii. 31 In ammonia there are, therefore, three shared-pairs and one lone-pair.
4. poetic. Of places: Lonely; unfrequented, uninhabited.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > lack of social communication or relations > retirement or seclusion > secluded place or place of seclusion > [adjective] > unfrequented
solitaryc1374
solein1390
insolentc1420
dern1488
uncoutha1542
unvisited1548
unhaunted1568
wasteful1573
unfrequented1594
untraded1596
sole1598
frequentlessa1607
unfrequenting1609
unrepaired to1615
unfrequent1618
lonely1645
lonesome1647
infrequented1675
lone1712
lonelyish1900
1712 A. Pope Rape of Locke ii, in Misc. Poems 368 Oh had I rather un-admir'd remain'd In some lone Isle, or distant Northern Land.
1717 A. Pope Eloisa to Abelard in Wks. 424 In these lone walls..Thy eyes diffus'd a reconciling ray.
1795 R. Burns Poems & Songs (1968) II. 788 Far dearer to me yon lone glen o' green breckan.
1810 W. Scott Lady of Lake i. 5 In lone Glenartney's hazel shade.
1864 R. Browning Dîs Aliter Visum vii We stepped O'er the lone stone fence.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > one > only one > [adjective]
onlepyeOE
aefauldeOE
onlyOE
soleinc1369
solea1398
halea1400
seul1477
anerlyc1485
alonelya1513
allenarlya1525
singulara1555
fellowlessa1586
unfellowed1597
unique1601
lone1602
unical1605
single1633
solitarya1634
exclusive1790
one-off1934
one-of-a-kind1954
1602 2nd Pt. Returne fr. Parnassus ii. ii. 613 Ile make it my lone request, that he wold be good to a scholler.
6. predicatively and quasi-adv.† a. = alone adj., adv., and n.; by myself, itself (etc.). Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > one > condition of being alone > [adverb] > by oneself
by oneself (himself, themselves, etc.)eOE
myself one (also alone)a1300
of oneselfc1450
sole1450
post alone1478
solely1495
high-lone1533
myselfc1540
lone1613
solus cum solo1742
on one's ownio1908
on one's Pat Malone1908
on one's lonely(-o)1919
on one's ownsome1921
on one's jack1931
on one's tod1934
1613 S. Purchas Descr. India in Pilgrimage (1864) 156 Floris enterd lone as it were for businesse.
c1817 J. Hogg Tales & Sketches IV. 29 She carefully avoided meeting him lone, though often and earnestly urged to it.
b. Scottish and northern dialect with possessive pronoun prefixed, as my lane = by myself. (Cf. alone adj. 1a(c)) More recently also in form lone (and lones).
ΚΠ
c1480 (a1400) St. Lawrence 521 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 417 Þe crystine..lowand god of al his lane.
1597 A. Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 664 How hope and curage tuik the man, and led him all thair lanes.
a1600 A. Montgomerie Misc. Poems iii. 33 And ladds vploips to lordships all thair lains.
1631 S. Rutherford Lett. (1863) I. xiv. 67 He had many against Him and compeared His lone in the fields against them all.
1724 A. Ramsay Vision in Ever Green I. i Mylane I wandert waif and wae.
1725 A. Ramsay Gentle Shepherd ii. iii When Bessy Freetock's chuffy-cheeked wean..cou'dna stand its lane.
a1796 R. Burns Poems & Songs (1968) I. 225 My shins, my lane, I there sit roastin.
1813 J. Hogg Queen's Wake ii. xiii. 179 In that wene there is a maike, That neither has flesh, nor blood, nor bane; And down in yon green-wood he walks his lane.
1818 J. Hogg Brownie of Bodsbeck I. 219 Ony thing but a bogle face to face at midnight, an' me a' my lane.
1894 S. R. Crockett Raiders 134 Can ye no let an auld man dee his lane?
1902 R. Kipling Just So Stories 197 They walked in the Wet Wild Woods by their wild lones.
1902 R. Kipling Just So Stories 206 This is the picture of the Cat that Walked by Himself, walking by his wild lone through the Wet Wild Woods.
1908 Westm. Gaz. 28 May 2/4 The roads are dusty and dry When you walk 'em all by your lone.
1910 W. M. Raine Bucky O'Connor 21 But why for do they let a sick man like you travel all by his lone?
1917 W. J. Locke Red Planet vi. 75 After five minutes on my lones, I felt as if I should go off my head.
a1930 N. Munro Commerc. Room in B. D. Osborne & R. Armstrong Erchie & Jimmy Swan (1993) ii. xiii. 380 Ye've made a wonderful change on the house since I was here last, Mr Lorimer; but sittin' here my lone at my tea, I was feelin' eerie.
1941 W. de la Mare Coll. Poems 7 As she asks in her lone, This old, desolate crone.
1943 M. McLaverty White Mare & Other Stories 85 It was a night like this, only calmer, when I came out my lone to get a rabbit or two.
1998 T. Hubbard Isolde’s Luve-daith 6 I wis left my lane, ontil Ae nicht, a tread on the stair, An the door unsneckt.
7. Combinations (adverbial and parasynthetic).
ΚΠ
1809–10 S. T. Coleridge Friend (1865) 215 Those loud-tongued adulators, the mob, overpowered the lone-whispered denunciations of conscience.
1887 G. Meredith Ballads & Poems 141 Lycophron, this breathless, this lone-laid.
1896 Westm. Gaz. 15 Dec. 4/3 A man who could trust himself lone-handed in mid-ocean in such a craft.
Draft additions December 2002
Designating or involving a parent who does not live with a partner and thus has most, or all, of the responsibility for bringing up a child or children. See also lone parent n. Cf. single adj. 8c.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinship group > family > [adjective] > relating to a one-parent family
one-parent1933
lone1949
single1969
lone parent1978
1949 N.Y. Times 20 Sept. 3/1 (advt.) Ample living space, meals available in Riverdale, N.Y.C. home for 12-year youth and lone parent.
1953 M. A. Michael tr. L. Björk Wages, Prices & Social Legislation in Soviet Union x. 128 As a rule children remain in kindergartens not more than 9 hours a day. In exceptional cases, however, the children of lone mothers may stay longer.
1972 Ann. Rep. National Council Unmarried Mother & Child 1971–72 13/2 Whether the cause of lone parenthood is divorce, separation, illegitimacy or loss of a parent through death, one-parent families have a number of problems in common.
1976 Economist (Nexis) 6 Mar. 27 In 1956, only 56,000 lone mothers were living on supplementary benefit;..in 1974, the figure was 245,000.
1985 Record (Bergen County, New Jersey) (Nexis) 9 Apr. b1 Despite expected increases in divorce, lone parenting and lifelong single status, the American family is not falling apart, say social scientists and census takers.
1997 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 7 Aug. 8 The proportion of children living in lone-parent families has almost tripled since 1972 and there were 12 lone mothers to every lone father. Most absent fathers kept in touch with their children and only 3% never saw them.
Draft additions September 2021
lone ranger n. (also with capital initials) originally U.S. a person who works or acts alone or in an isolated manner, esp. one who does not consult with others or seek approval (cf. lone wolf n.). [Popularized by the fictional character the Lone Ranger, hero of a radio series (from 1933), a television series (from 1949), and numerous films, books, etc. Earlier use may have been influenced by the title of Zane Grey's novel The Lone Star Ranger (1915).]
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > lack of social communication or relations > solitude or solitariness > [noun] > person > who prefers to be alone
solitudinarian1691
lone wolf1909
lone ranger1924
loner1947
1924 I. S. Cobb Goin' on Fourteen xxii. 265 He presented himself as that anachronism of boyhood, a lone ranger, going his single way by desire rather than through ill fortune or necessity.
1986 Advertiser (Adelaide) (Nexis) 15 May There are more Lone Rangers... Now everyone goes out for dinner and we don't know where they are going. People keep very much to themselves.
2021 Accounting Today (Nexis) 22 Feb. The other six [tax preparers] are experienced older people who primarily work as lone rangers, i.e., they work by themselves and get their work done, but do not train or bring up anyone.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1903; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.a1450
adj.1377