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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dolesome

In this vicinity was passed a dolesome time, the country being wild and rugged, affording handsome scenery under different circumstances, but for us it had no enchantment.

From History of the Eighty-sixth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, during its term of service by John R. Kinnear

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

Thus we descended into the fourth chasm,   Gaining still farther on the dolesome shore   Which all the woe of the universe insacks.

From Divine Comedy, Longfellow's Translation, Complete by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Ah! it’s a dolesome change from Sir Murray to Sir Brian yonder at the end, and worse still, to your father, as wouldn’t put nothing on but a breast-piece and back-piece and a steel cap.”

From The Young Castellan A Tale of the English Civil War by George Manville Fenn

His eyes cast down, his forehead shorn had he   Of all its boldness, and he said, with sighs,   "Who has denied to me the dolesome houses?"

From Divine Comedy, Longfellow's Translation, Complete by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow