Definition of "dole" []

• Charitable dispensation of goods, especially money, food, or clothing. (noun)
• A share of money, food, or clothing that has been charitably given. (noun)
• Chiefly British The distribution by the government of relief payments to the unemployed; welfare. (noun)
• Archaic One's fate. (noun)
• To dispense as charity. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "To be on the dole is a horrible experience; therefore it is no worse to be in the torture-chambers of the Gestapo."
• "We are most anxious in Canada to secure a greater population, but a man who has once received the "dole" argues, "why should I leave England, where the 'dole' is obtainable, and migrate to Canada, where it is not to be secured?""
• "The actual dole is not that much money – the real advantage for the people at the bottom of the pile for signing on in the UK is housing benefits and not having to pay tax."