See Also:

solitary (iou) and last(4) (iou)


solitary (iou)



solitary adjective & noun. ME.
[Latin solitarius from solus sole, alone: see -ARY1.]
A. adjective.
Of a person or animal: unaccompanied; deprived of or avoiding the society of others; keeping apart or aloof; living alone. ME.
A. N. Wilson He had felt alienated, cut off, solitary. I. Murdoch Gildas was said to be a solitary man, but he depended..upon his few close friends.
b. Sole, single; unsupported, unparalleled. M17.
S. Johnson The result, not of solitary conjecture but of..experience. E. Blair Not one solitary cottage had survived.
Of a place: remote, unfrequented, secluded, lonely. ME.
Goldsmith They keep chiefly in the most solitary and inaccessible places.
Of an action, state, etc.: characterized by the absence of all companionship or society. LME.
Zoology. (Of a bird etc.) that lives alone or in pairs only; (of an insect) not cooperating to form social colonies. M18.
Botany. Of a flower or Other part of a plant: borne singly. L18.
Special collocations: solitary confinement isolation of a prisoner in a separate cell etc., esp. as a punishment. solitary dodo = SOLITAIRE 5a. solitary sandpiper an American sandpiper, Tringa solitaria, which breeds in Canada. solitary thrush the blue rock thrush, Monticola solitarius, occurring in southern Europe and throughout much of Asia. solitary vireo a vireo, Vireo solitarius, found in various forms in North and Central America. solitary wave a travelling non-dissipative wave which is neither preceded nor followed by another such disturbance.
b. noun.
A person who retires into or lives in solitude for religious reasons; a hermit, an anchorite. Now also, any person who avoids or is deprived of the society of others. LME.
E. A. Freeman Wythmann.., after a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, died a solitary. I. Murdoch Tallis is..better off on his own...He's a natural solitary.
ellipt. Solitary confinement. colloq. M19.
D. Caute I was kept in solitary..not allowed to communicate with any Other prisoner.
solitarily adverb LME.
solitariness noun LME.

last(4) (iou)



last noun3. [lɑ:st] obsolete exc. Hist. LOE.
[Anglo-Latin lastum, lestum (Domesday Book lest), used for LATHE noun1.]
= LATHE noun1. Also, an administrative assembly in Kent (more fully last-court).