dolesome

American  

[dohl-suhm] / ˈdoʊl səm /

adjective

Literary.

1. doleful.

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Etymology

Origin of dolesome

First recorded in 1525–35; dole ² + -some ¹

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dolesome

For frightful, yea, horrible is it down there;   And man ought not to tempt the heavenly Might, Or long to see, with prying unwholesome, What He graciously covers with darkness dolesome!

From Rampolli by George MacDonald

A dolesome thing," he said; "but my mother was wont to sing it to the virginals.

From Henry Brocken His Travels and Adventures in the Rich, Strange, Scarce-Imaginable Regions of Romance by Walter De la Mare

Straight all the mother in her soul awakes, And, owning her Ulysses, thus she speaks; 'Comest thou, my son, alive, to realms beneath, The dolesome realms of darkness and of death!

From The Odyssey by Alexander Pope

So cherished, I shall never die— Pray, therefore, spare your dolesome praises, Your elegies and plaintive cries, For I shall fertilize no daisies!

From Hoosier Lyrics by Eugene Field

So cherished, I shall never die; Pray, therefore, spare your dolesome praises, Your elegies, and plaintive cries, For I shall fertilize no daisies!

From Echoes from the Sabine Farm by Roswell Martin Field

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