See Also:

whole (iou)



whole adjective, noun, adverb, & interjection. Also (earlier) hole. See also HALE adjective.

A. adjective.
I. In good condition, sound.
Of a person, animal, or part of the body: uninjured, unhurt; recovered from injury. arch. OE.
Browning The evil thing..Left the man whole and sound of body.
Of a material object: free from damage or defect; not broken; intact. Passing into senses A.5, 6 below. OE.
N. Hawthorne She is..as whole as when she left the hands of the sculptor.
Free from disease; healthy; restored to health, recovered from disease. arch. OE.
b. Of the mind: sound. OE-L16.
Good, wholesome. ME-E16.
II. Complete, total.
Not divided into parts; not broken up or cut into pieces; entire. Passing into sense A.2 above. OE.
Nature Synaptosomes were prepared from whole rat brain. B. Fussell Sand dabs are so small they can be sauteed whole and eaten in two bites. Health Guardian The holistic approach..treats patients as whole people. Country Homes Basmati rice, cooked with..whole cardamom pods.
b. Undivided in allegiance or devotion; loyal, steadfast. Cf. whole-hearted, whole-souled below. ME-M16.
c. Not divided in opinion; united, unanimous. LME-M16.
Having all its parts or elements; not lacking any part; full, perfect. Passing into sense A.2 above. ME.
Tennyson That so my pleasure may be whole.
b. Containing all its proper or essential constituents. Chiefly in special collocations: see below. L18.
attrib.
a. With noun sing. The total amount or extent of; every part of; (with collect. noun) each or every one of. Following article, possess. or demonstr. adjective, etc., or other determiner; formerly also without article. ME.
E. Nesbit She would scream 'Fire!' and 'Murder!' and she didn't mind if the whole street heard. J. Buchan His whole body was one huge ache. J. Osborne He was upset by the whole idea. G. Gordon Children know they have not been told the whole truth by grown-ups. M. Roberts The whole weekend, right through to Monday morning.
b. With noun pl. The total number of; all of, each or every one of. Following determiner (def. article, indef. article, possess. adjective, etc.) and preceding numeral and noun; (now chiefly Scot.) following determiner and preceding noun (without numeral). In emphatic use: with article omitted and following (formerly, preceding) any numeral. LME.
J. Jackson The Church had no breathing for whole twenty yeares together. Time Bagwell taught himself to speed-read, gulping whole paragraphs at a glance. D. F. Galouye I feel..I've stood still for two whole years.
Designating or pertaining to a family relationship in which both the parents are the same; full; pure. Opp. half. LME.
b. Not sharing the specified charge or function with any one else, sole. LME-E17.
c. Bookbinding. Forming the whole of the cover. M19.
b. adverb. Wholly, entirely, fully, perfectly. Now rare & chiefly in comb. Formerly also with pleonastic all. ME.
W. Cowper War and the chase engross the savage whole.
C. noun.
The full, complete, or total amount or extent (of); all the parts, members, inhabitants, etc. of. LME.
Rail A park and ride facility for the whole of the Vale. B. Leigh Alice in Wonderland was his favourite book and he could recite the whole of it.
A thing made up of combined or connected parts; a complex system; a thing complete in itself. Usu. with indef. article. L16.
I. Asimov Lines and curves..entwined into a coalescing whole.
Mining. A seam of coal not yet worked, or in an early stage of working. M18.
Phrases: as a whole as a unity; in its entirety; not as separate parts. a whole lot (colloq., orig. US) very much (usu. preceding a compar.). give the whole show away: see SHOW noun1. go the whole hog: see HOG noun. go the whole way: see WAY noun. in the whole (now rare) all together, in all. in whole in full, entirely, wholly (opp. in part). lick whole: see LICK verb. on the whole (a) taking everything relevant into account, all things considered; (b) in general, for the most part. the whole kit and boodle, the whole kit and caboodle: see KIT noun1. the whole shoot: see SHOOT noun1. with a whole skin: see SKIN noun.
Special collocations & comb.: whole cloth cloth of the full size as manufactured, as distinguished from a piece cut off for a garment etc.; (cut out of the whole cloth, cut out of whole cloth, made out of the whole cloth, made out of whole cloth (US slang), wholly fabricated, totally false). whole-colour, whole-coloured adjectives (of an animal) of a uniform colour. whole-earther colloq. a person concerned about the protection and conservation of natural resources and wildlife. wholefood food which has not been unnecessarily processed or refined. whole gale Nautical (now chiefly US) a storm wind of 48-55 knots (force 10 on the Beaufort scale). wholehearted adjective (of a person) completely devoted or committed; (of an action etc.) done with all possible effort, attention, or sincerity; thorough. wholeheartedly adverb in a wholehearted manner. wholeheartedness the quality or condition of being wholehearted. whole holiday a whole day taken as a holiday (opp. half-holiday). whole-hoofed adjective = SOLIDUNGULATE adjective. whole-length noun & adjective (a) noun a portrait showing the whole height of the human figure, a full-length portrait; (b) adjective (of a portrait etc.) full-length. whole-life adjective pertaining to or designating an insurance policy for which premiums are payable until the death of the person insured. wholemeal adjective & noun (designating or made from) meal or flour made from the whole grain of wheat or other cereals with none of the bran or germ removed. whole milk milk with none of its fats or other constituents removed; spec. unskimmed milk. whole note Music (a) a whole tone; (b) (now N. Amer.) a semibreve. whole number (a) Math. any of the numbers exactly divisible by one (usu. taken to include zero); an integer; spec. such a number representing a positive quantity, as used in counting (as 2, 6, 42, etc.); (b) whole-number rule Physics, the empirical law that the atomic weights of the elements are mostly close to being whole numbers. whole-rock adjective (Geology) designating a complete rock sample as used in an analytical procedure, as distinct from the individual minerals composing it. whole-souled adjective (chiefly US) wholehearted. whole step Music an interval of a (whole) tone. whole-stitch Lace-making a stitch in which the threads are woven together as in cloth. whole sum: see SUM noun. whole-time full-time. whole-timer a full-timer. whole-tone scale Music: consisting entirely of tones, with no semitones. wholewheat noun & adjective (a) noun wheat with none of the bran or germ removed; (b) adjective designating or made from flour made from wholewheat.
wholeness noun LOE.
wholewise adverb (rare) as a whole, with respect to the whole L17.