Brewer's: Dole

lamentation, from the Latin doleo, to grieve.

“He [the dwarf] found the dead bodies, wherefore he made great dole” —S. Lanier: King Arthur, book i. chap. xiv.

Dole

a portion allotted, is the Anglo Saxon dál, a portion.

“Heaven has in store a precious dole.”

Keble: Christian Year (4th Sunday after Trinity).

Happy man be his dole. May his share or lot be that of a happy or fortunate man.

Wherein, happy man be his dole, I trust that I Shall not speed worst, and that very quickly.

Damon and Pythias, i. 177.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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