single

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. adj. Not accompanied by another or others; solitary.
2. adj. Consisting of one part, aspect, or section: a single thickness; a single serving.
3. adj. Having the same application for all; uniform: a single moral code for all.
4. adj. Consisting of one in number: She had but a single thought, which was to escape.
5. adj. Not divided; unbroken: a single slab of ice.
6. adj. Separate from others; individual and distinct: Every single child will receive a gift.
7. adj. Having individual opponents; involving two individuals only: single combat.
8. adj. Honest; undisguised: a single adoration.
9. adj. Wholly attentive: You must judge the contest with a single eye.
10. adj. Designed to accommodate one person: a single bed.
11. adj. Unmarried.
12. adj. Lacking a partner: a single parent.
13. adj. Relating to the unmarried state: enjoys the single life.
14. adj. Of or relating to celibacy.
15. adj. Botany Having only one rank or row of petals: a single flower.
16. n. One that is separate and individual.
17. n. An accommodation for one person, as in a hotel.
18. n. An unmarried person.
19. n. Unmarried persons considered as a group: a bar for singles.
20. n. A one-dollar bill.
21. n. A phonograph record, especially a forty-five, having one song on each side.
22. n. A song on one of these sides.
23. n. A song, often from a full-length album or compact disk, that is released for airplay.
24. n. Baseball A hit by which a batter reaches first base safely; a one-base hit.
25. n. Sports A hit for one run in cricket.
26. n. Sports A golf match between two players.
27. n. Sports A tennis or badminton match between two players. Often used in the plural.
28. n. Sports A competition in which individuals compete against each other, as in rowing or figure skating.
29. v. To choose or distinguish from others. Often used with out: We singled her out from the list of applicants.
30. v. Baseball To cause (a base runner) to score or advance by making a one-base hit: singled him to second.
31. v. Baseball To cause the scoring of (a run) by a one-base hit.
32. v. Baseball To make a single.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. Being a unit, as distinguished from a number: often used expletively for emphasis: as, not a single word was said.
2. Alone; by one's self or by itself; separate or apart from others; unaccompanied or unaided; detached; individual; particular.
3. Unmarried; also, pertaining to or involving celibacy: as, single life; the single state.
4. Unique; unmatched; singular; unusual.
5. Pertaining to one person or thing; individual, as opposed to common, general, or universal; also, pertaining to one class, set, pair etc.: as, a single dory (a boat manned by one person).
6. Private; relating to the affairs of an individual; not public; relating to one's self.
7. Free from combination, complication, or complexity; simple; consisting of one only.
8. Normal; sound; healthy: often applied to the eye, and in that connection used figuratively of simplicity or integrity of character or purpose.
9. Free from duplicity; sincere; honest; straightforward.
10. Not strong or heavy; weak: noting beer, ale, etc., and opposed to double or strong beverages.
11. Feeble; trifling; foolish; silly.
12. In botany, solitary: said of a flower when there is only one on a stem; also, in common usage, noting flowers which have only the normal number of floral envelops—that is, which are not double. See double, 6.
13. In anatomy and z oöl., not double, triple, etc.; not paired; azygous; simple; solitary; alone; one: generally emphatic, in implied comparison with things or parts of things that are ordinarily double, paired, several, etc.
14. See cell, 8.
15. (b ) By euphemism, a harlot or prostitute.
16. n. That which is single, in any sense of the word. Specifically— plural The twisted threads of silk made of single strands of the raw silk as wound from the cocoon. When simply cleaned and wound, the silk is called dumb singles, and is used for making bandana handkerchiefs, and, after bleaching, for gauze and similar fabrics. When wound, cleaned, and thrown, the silk is termed thrown singles, and is used for ribbons and common silks. When wound, cleaned, doubled, and thrown, and twisted in one direction, it becomes tram, and is used for the woof or shoot of gros de Naples, velvets, and flowered silks. When wound, cleaned, spun, doubled, and thrown, so that it resembles the strand of rope, it is called organzine, and is used for warp.
17. n. In falconry, a talon or claw.
18. n. The tail of an animal; properly, in hunting, the tail of the buck.
19. n. A handful of the gleanings of corn tied up.
20. To make single, separate, or alone; retire; sequester.
21. To select individually from among a number; choose out separately from others: commonly followed by out.
22. To lead aside or apart from others.
23. Nautical, to unite, so as to combine several parts into one: as, to single the tacks and sheets.
24. To separate; go apart from others: said specifically of a hunted deer when it leaves the herd.
25. Same as single-foot.
26. To sail before the wind; make head.
27. n. In whist, the score made by the winners when the game is 5 points up and rubbers are played, if the losers of any game are 3 or 4 up: as, ‘single, double, and the rub.’
28. n. In the extraction of antimony from its native sulphid, the manufacturers' name for the first crude product from melting the ore with scrap-iron. It generally contains about 91.5 per cent. antimony, 7 per cent. iron, and 1 per cent. sulphur.
29. n. In golf, two players playing against each other.
30. n. In furniture, silverware, and the like, a separate piece not belonging to a set.
31. n. One strand of sliver, roving thread, or yarn.
32. n. plural A commercial name in England for thin sheet-steel or -iron used as a foundation for tin-plate, having a thickness ranging from 0.238 to 0.35 of an inch, or from No. 4 to No. 20 B. W. G.

Wiktionary

1. adj. Not accompanied by anything else; one in number.
2. adj. Not divided in parts.
3. adj. Designed for the use of only one.
4. adj. Not married, and also not dating.
5. adj. botany Having only one rank or row of petals.
6. adj. obsolete Simple and honest; sincere, without deceit.
7. n. A 45 RPM vinyl record with one song on side A and one on side B.
8. n. A popular song released and sold (on any format) nominally on its own though usually has at least one extra track.
9. n. One who is not married.
10. n. cricket A score of one run.
11. n. baseball A hit in baseball where the batter advances to first base.
12. n. dominoes A tile that has different values (i.e., number of pips) in each end.
13. n. A bill valued at $1.
14. n. UK A one-way ticket.
15. n. Canadian football A score of one point, awarded when a kicked ball is dead within the non-kicking team's end zone or has exited that end zone. Officially known in the rules as a rouge.
16. n. tennis A game with one player on each side, as in tennis.
17. n. One of the reeled filaments of silk, twisted without doubling to give them firmness.
18. n. UK, Scotland, dialect A handful of gleaned grain.
19. v. To identify or select one member of a group from the others; generally used with out, either to single out or to single (something) out.
20. v. baseball To get a hit that advances the batter exactly one base.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. adj. One only, as distinguished from more than one; consisting of one alone; individual; separate.
2. adj. Alone; having no companion.
3. adj. Hence, unmarried.
4. adj. Not doubled, twisted together, or combined with others.
5. adj. Performed by one person, or one on each side.
6. adj. Uncompounded; pure; unmixed.
7. adj. Not deceitful or artful; honest; sincere.
8. adj. obsolete Simple; not wise; weak; silly.
9. v. To select, as an individual person or thing, from among a number; to choose out from others; to separate.
10. v. obsolete To sequester; to withdraw; to retire.
11. v. To take alone, or one by one.
12. v. To take the irrregular gait called single-foot; -- said of a horse. See single-foot.
13. n. A unit; one.
14. n. The reeled filaments of silk, twisted without doubling to give them firmness.
15. n. Prov. Eng. & Scot. A handful of gleaned grain.
16. n. (Law Tennis) A game with but one player on each side; -- usually in the plural.
17. n. (Baseball) A hit by a batter which enables him to reach first base only.

WordNet 3.0

1. adj. being or characteristic of a single thing or person
2. adj. not divided among or brought to bear on more than one object or objective
3. n. a base hit on which the batter stops safely at first base
4. adj. used of flowers having usually only one row or whorl of petals
5. n. the smallest whole number or a numeral representing this number
6. adj. existing alone or consisting of one entity or part or aspect or individual
7. v. hit a single
8. adj. not married or related to the unmarried state
9. adj. having uniform application
10. adj. characteristic of or meant for a single person or thing