one

▪ I. one, numeral a., pron., etc.
    (wʌn)
    Forms: see below.
    [Com. Teut.: OE. án = OFris. ân, ên, OS. ên (MDu., Du. een), OHG. (MHG., Ger.) ein, ON. einn:—ein-r (Da. een, Sw. en), Goth. ain-s:—OTeut. *ain-oz:—pre-Teut. *oinos = L. ūnus (OL. oinos); OIr. óen, OSlav. inŭ, Lith. vënas one; cf. Gr. οἶνος, οἴνη, ace. OE. án became in regular course in south. and midl. dial. ôn, exemplified before 1200. By 15th c., ôn, oon, in s.w. and west, had developed (through ōn, uon, uön, won, wun) an initial w (cf. the s.w. wuk, wuts = oak, oats), which only occasionally appears in the spelling (see A below), but is now the standard pronunciation. The first orthoepist to refer to it was app. Jones 1701: earlier grammarians, down to Cooper 1685, give to one the sound that it has in alone, atone, and only; Dyche in 1710 has (ɒn) beside (wɒn). In the north, ān was retained in ME.; but through the narrowing of orig. long ā to (æː, ɛː, eː, ɛə, ɪə) ân has sunk in dialectal utterance through āne, to eane, eän, yan, yen, the development of (jɛn) in the north being the counterpart of that of (wʌn) in the south. In OE., án had the full adj. inflexions, definite and indefinite, remains of which persisted in the south to c 1300, and in Kent still later (see A ζ); but, in north. and midl. Eng., the uninflected ân, ôn, with the definite form âne, ône (OE. ána, áne), is found in the accus. and dative, as well as the nom. by 1200. Already also, ân, ôn were reduced before a cons. to â, ô (oo), which did not die out till the 16th c.
    In the north the separation of ân and â was more permanent; at the present day in Sc. the full form ane, eane, etc., is only used absolutely or in the predicate, ae, eae, is the attrib. form before cons. and vowel alike, ae day, ae yeir, we hae ane; so in north Eng. dial. with yà and yàn. From the early an, a, pronounced proclitically without stress, arose the ‘indefinite article’ an, a, q.v. In northern dial. the numeral and article were long written alike, the stress or emphasis alone distinguishing them; in 16th c. Sc. both were written ane. (See a adj.², ane.) By more or less permanent coalescence of a preceding thet, the collocations thet ane, thet one, thet a, thet o, became the tane, the tone, the ta, the to. (See tone.)]
    A. Illustration of Forms:
    (α) 1 án, 2–3 (north. 3–6) an, 3 en, 4–5 (Sc. 5–) ane (4 aun, 5 awen, Sc. ayne, 6 Sc. ain, north. dial. 7– yane, 8– yan, yen, Sc. 9 eane, yen, yin).

c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. x. 29 An of ðam. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 77 An child. c 1200 Ormin 1352 An Godd of twinne kinde. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 4085 An sal come. c 1340 ― Prose Tr. 8 Ane es þat sche es neuer ydil. c 1430 Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 1337 Not an word ageyn he yaf. 1588 A. King tr. Canisius' Catech. 124 Sic a ane as makis nocht ane man gods enimie. Ibid. 171 Ony of thais small ains. 1674–91 Ray N.C. Words 84 Yane, one. 1790 Mrs. Wheeler Westmld. Dial. 95 Clock hes strucken yan. 1807 Tannahill Poems 105 A third yin owns an antique rare. 1826 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 177 At ane and the same time. 1855 Robinson Whitby Gloss., Yah or Yan, one. 1860 J. G. Forster in Latham Handbk. Eng. Lang. 161 Get up, maw luiv, my bonny yen.

    (β) 2–7 on, 4–6 oon, 4–6 oone, (5–6 owne, un, 7 own), 5– one, (9 colloq. un).

c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 103 On is icweðen Gula. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. iii. 269 On cristene kyng. 1377 Ibid. B. iii. 287 One [v.r. oon] cristene kynge. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 176 Oon heerde and oon flok. c 1425 Cursor M. 3444 (Trin.) Now she bredeþ two for oone. 14.. MS. Sloane 1986 lf. 32 in T. H. Turner Dom. Archit. III. 102 Un fote, y wys, hit schall be brode. 1520 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford 27 The oon half therof. 1527 Plumpton Corr. 226 Certaine traverses depending betewt him & owne Georg Fulbarne. 1547 in Norfolk Archæol. (1865) VII. 23 Oon payer of challys. 1603 Owen Pembrokeshire (1891) 273 Aboute on or two of the clocke. 1648 Gage West Ind. xii. (1655) 46 The own toward the Cawsey, and the other toward the water. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xviii. 179 It was only the young uns.

    (γ) 5–6 won, wone, woon(e, 6–7 wonne, 7 dial. wan, 9 woone.

c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 980 Haralde regnede byfore hym four ȝer, and won. 14.. Burlesque in Rel. Ant. I. 83 These iij kyngus ete but of wone gruell dysche. c 1485 E.E. Misc. (Warton Cl. 1855) 8 Woone myleway mornyng I came. 1517 Domesday Inclos. (1897) I. 220–1 Won Rychard Songer..and won Iennis parrys. 1526 Tindale Rev. xviii. 10 Att won houre is her iudgment come. 1579 Nottingham Rec. IV. 191 To have a good won. 1642 Rogers Naaman 289 Nay not so much as the basest wonne. 1651 Ld. Taaffe in Mrq. Ormonde's MSS. in 4th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. 568/2 He has sent two frigatts..wan to my Black Rock and tother to my Lord of Meskery. 1863 W. Barnes Dorset Poems in Sat. Rev. 124 They had woone chile bezide.

    (δ) 3–5 (Sc. –6) a, 4 ai, 8– north. yaa, Sc. ae.

c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 39 Ure drihten drof fele deules togedere ut of á man. c 1340 Hampole Prose Tr. 32 Some ere of a tre and some ere of another. 1790 Mrs. Wheeler Westmld. Dial. 89 Thear is monny Blanks for yaa Prize. 1791 Burns Farewell to Nancy, Ae fond kiss, and then we sever! 1894 Ian Maclaren Bonnie Brier Bush iv. ii. 136, I had ae son, and he is gone.

    (ε) 3–6 o, 4–6 oo: see o adj.

c 1205–c 1489 [see o adj.]. 1521 Notbrowne Mayde 278 in Hazl. E.P.P. II. 283 Yet am I sure Of oo plesure. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xix. (Arb.) 213 But o thing vvell I vvot.

    (ζ) Definite form. 1 ána, áne: 2 ana, 2–3, north. 4– ane, 3– one, 4–5 oone.

c 1000 Andreas 492 Is þys ane ma. c 1000 ælfric Hom. I. 28 God ana. a 1175 Cott. Hom. 221 Þæt þes man ane beo. a 1225 Juliana 79 Beo he him ane. c 1340 Cursor M. 3052 Wandrand in wildernes hir an. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. i. 146 Her þou miht seon ensaumple in hymselfe one. c 1430 in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 148 Sche made hir compleynt bi hir oone.

    (η) Inflected forms.

c 1000 ælfric Hom. I. 12 God þa ᵹeworhte ænne mannan. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. John xvi. 32 Þæt ᵹe..forlæton me anne [c 1160 Hatton G. ane]. 1137–54 O.E. Chron. an. 1137 Twa oþer thre men hadden onoh to beron onne. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 27 He nefde bute enne deofel. Ibid. 49 Þe mon þe delueð ene put. c 1200 Ormin 3364 Ȝe shulenn findenn ænne child. c 1205 Lay. 88 Nefede he buten anne sune. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 8266 Robert..smot anne vpe þe helm. 1340 Ayenb. 102 Huanne he werreþ wyþ enne. c 1175 Ane [see B. 12]. c 1205 Lay. 2247 Nefde he bute æne dohter. a 1225 One [see B. 12]. c 1020 Rule St. Benet (Logeman) 52 On anum dæᵹe. a 1175 Cott. Hom. 245 More blisse bið an hefene be anun synfulle man. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 17 Beo hit of ane þinge. c 1205 Lay. 82 On ane daȝe. 1340 Ayenb. 186 Alle we byeþ of one kende. Ibid. 190 He acsede at onen of his diaknen. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. John xx. 7 On anre stowe. c 1160 Hatton G. ibid., On are stowe. a 1200 Moral Ode 207 For are þare sunne. a 1250 Owl & Night. 17 In ore waste þicke hegge.

    B. Signification. I. As simple numeral.
    1. The lowest of the cardinal numbers; the number of a single thing without any more, the addition of another to which makes two. a. In concord with a n. expressed.

c 855 O.E. Chron. (Parker MS.) Introd., Þa heold Seaxburᵹ his cuen an ᵹear þæt rice æfter him. 879 Ibid., And..aþiestrode sio sunne ane tid dæᵹes. a 1200 Moral Ode 137 Hefde he bon þer enne dei oðer twa. c 1290 Beket 464 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 120 For o trespas: bote o Iuggement nis i-do. 1382 Wyclif John vii. 21, I haue don o work, and alle ȝe wondren. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 83 Men that haueth..eyghte fyngres in oon honde. 1539 Taverner Erasm. Prov. (1552) 17 One man no man. One man lefte alone and forsaken of all the reste can do lytle good. 1545 R. Ascham Toxoph. i. (Arb.) 48 Except it be one day amonges .xx. or one yeare amonges .xl. 1610 Shakes. Temp. iii. iii. 12 Doe not for one repulse forgoe the purpose That you resolu'd t'effect. 1710 Berkeley Princ. Hum. Knowl. §12 We say one book, one page, one line, etc.; all these are equally units.

    b. With ellipsis of n. (expressed in or understood from context).

a 1000 Riddles (Gr.) xliii. 10 Þær sceal..se torhta æsc wesan an an linan. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 49 Turtle ne wile habbe no make bute on. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 5771 He slough thre ogaines anne. 1382 Wyclif 2 Cor. xi. 24, I resceyuede of the Iewis fyue sythis fourty strokis oon lesse. 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas ix. (1554) 219 b, Praying the Lord, one, two, and three, Whose magnificence no clerke may comprehend. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 72 By mo wayes than one. 1611 Bible Deut. i. 23, I tooke twelue men of you, One of a tribe. 1784 Cowper Task v. 231 One eminent above the rest..Was chosen leader. 1823 Byron Juan x. xxxiii, Thermometers sunk down to..one. 1871 Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. Mar. Supp. 1/2 The one-and-sixpenny packet contains 100 varieties.

    c. esp. with ellipsis of hour, as in one o'clock, half past one, train due at one twenty five (1 hr. 25 m.). Phrase: like one o'clock, vigorously, quickly; also, splendidly, excellently; readily, enthusiastically. (See N. & Q. 9th Ser. 1900 VI. 305, etc.).

a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 94 b, On Mondaie..by one of the Clocke. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. iv. vi. 19 To night at Hernes-Oke, iust 'twixt twelue and one. 1718 Prior Dove 30 St. Dunstan's, as they pass'd, struck one. 1742 Young Nt. Th. i. 55 The bell strikes one. We take no note of time, But from its loss. 1847–78 Halliwell 588/2 Like one-o'clock, i.e. very rapidly, said of a horse's movement, etc. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour (1861) I. 31 Then he trotted on like one o'clock. 1852 Dickens Bleak Ho. xx, Mr. Guppy and Mr. Jobling..find Krook still sleeping like one o'clock..quite insensible to any external sounds, or even to gentle shaking. Ibid. (1853) xx. 200 He has seen him through the shop-door, sitting in his back premises, sleeping ‘like one o'clock’. 1870 M. Bridgman R. Lynne I. xviii. 317 We pulled every one to pieces like one o'clock. 1889 E. Dowson Let. 31 July (1967) 97 If I can only shake off Cursitor St I will go to the oeuvre like one oclock. 1901 M. Franklin My Brilliant Career xix. 161 He had a taste for literature, and we got on together like one o'clock. 1924 Galsworthy White Monkey iii. xv. 321 Anything about the meeting, sir? Your speech must read like one o'clock! 1970 V. C. Clinton-Baddeley No Case for Police viii. 179 It's going to rain like one o'clock. 1973 Guardian 27 Oct. 11/6 Hedgehogs drink beer like one o'clock.

    d. colloq. or in slang use, with ellipsis of other ns. as blow (also fig.), kiss, etc. With ellipsis of glass or drink; one for the road, a final drink before departure. See also quick one (quick a. 25 b).

[? a 1500 Chester Pl. x. 334 But yet wroken I wil be: Haue here one, two, and three.] 1830 Galt Lawrie T. vi. i. (1849) 252, I owed him one for his shortness about family concerns. 1855 Smedley H. Coverdale xxxvi, I certainly owe Coverdale one, for his manner to me just now was anything but nice. 1882 W. S. Gilbert Iolanthe 16, I heard the minx remark, She'd meet him..And give him one! 1892 Spectator 7 May 646/1 To use a slang phrase borrowed from the card-table, she has ‘seen Mr. D. and gone one better’. 1894 W. E. Norris St. Ann's II. 237, I venture to prophesy that, between us, we shall be one too many for the Colonel. 1894 Mrs. H. Ward Marcella II. 276, I have owed him one for many years—now I have paid it. 1900 Sims In London's Heart iv. 25 It was, in the outdoor language of Exeter Street, ‘one in the eye’ for her aunt. 1925 R. J. B. Sellar Sporting Yarns 165 ‘Did I have one over the regulation number last night?’ ‘Not at all..you were perfectly all right.’ 1925, 1928 [see eight n. 4]. 1934 Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves xi. 126, I..put my feet up, sipping the mixture with carefree enjoyment, rather like Cæsar having one in his tent the day he overcame the Nervii. 1937 D. & H. Teilhet Feather Cloak Murders i. 20 You run off to bed like a good fellow. You've had one too many. 1943 J. Mercer (song-title) One for my baby (and one more for the road). 1948 ‘E. Crispin’ Buried for Pleasure vi. 47 How about one for the road? 1959 G. Greene Complaisant Lover i. i. 20 One for the road. I insist. While I call a taxi. 1968 J. Sangster Touchfeather xiii. 140 Didn't mean to be crude. Must have had one too many. 1972 J. Blackburn For Fear of Little Men xi. 119 ‘What about giving me one for the road, my dear.’ He gulped down the remains of the sherry. 1976 South Notts Echo 16 Dec. 5/4 If you are driving do not have one for the road.

    † e. Ellipt. for ‘one horse’ (to pull a carriage, etc.). Cf. four a. 2 c. Obs.

1777 P. Thicknesse Year's Journey II. lv. 185 If you can find me out a sensible valetudinarian..who will travel as we do..in a landau and one. 1785 Cowper Task i. 5 Two citizens who take the air Close pack'd and smiling in a chaise and one.

    f. A one-pound note or a one-dollar bill.

1846 Illinois State Register (Springfield) 2 Oct. 2/6 Independent of the older issues, and such as are described in the Detectors, Ones, on the Banks of ‘Broome county’ and ‘Whitestown’..have made their appearance. 1948 Savings & Loan News Mar. 18/2 My billfold had a $10 bill in it, not ten ones. 1966 O. Norton School of Liars iii. 55 ‘Do you want this in ones, Mrs. Hetherington?’ ‘In ten-shillingses, dear boy.’ 1967 ‘A. Gilbert’ Visitor iii. 45, I counted the notes, which took a ridiculously long time as they were mostly in ones. 1970 M. Kenyon 100,000 Welcomes iii. 18 He counted out seven one-pound notes and a five..and selected three ones. 1976 J. Wainwright Walther P. 38 24 Drysdale started with five fives, followed by five ones, then he paused{ddd}he counted out five more singles.

    g. One point or position on a scale, order, or the like; esp. in phr. go up (or down) one, expressing commendation (or disapprobation). colloq.

1909 J. R. Ware Passing Eng. 142/2 Go down one, to be vanquished. Ibid. 143/2 Go up one, applause. Derived from the school class—the scholar going one nearer the top as he goes up one. 1967 E. Lemarchand Death of Old Girl v. 59 ‘I was thinking maybe..the blood on that made the mark.’ ‘So was I,’ said Pollard. ‘Go up one.’

    2. a. Joined to the tens (twenty, thirty, etc.), like the other units, one originally always preceded (one-and-twenty, three hundred one and thirty, etc.), but now more usually follows (twenty-one, etc.). So with the ordinals: one-and-twentieth, now more usually twenty-first. (See twenty, etc.)

c 1000 ælfric Exod. xii. 18 Oþ þone an and twentoᵹoþan dæᵹ þæs ylcan monþes. a 1100 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1086 On þam an and twentiᵹan ᵹeare þæs þe Will'm weolde..Engleland. c 1205 Lay. 9541 Heo wuneden inne Wincæstre an and twenti wikene. 1562 Heywood Epigr. Y iij b, One and forty men, among one and fiftie, Would flee one and thirtie, to flee one vnthriftie. 1579 Fulke Heskins' Parl. 396 The one and thirtieth Chapter endeth the exposition. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 314 They were one-and-twenty days in this traverse. 1806 T. S. Surr Winter in Lond. (ed. 3) I. 136 Edward had attained his one-and-twentieth year. 1843 A. Bethune Sc. Fireside Stor. 12 A delicate..girl, in her twentieth, or one-and-twentieth year.

    b. one-and-thirty: an old game of cards apparently similar to, or the same as, bone-ace: cf. quot. 1825. one-and-twenty: a person of that age.

c 1554 Interl. Youth in Hazl. Dodsley II. 34, I can teach you to play, At the triump and one-and-thirty. 1611–1617 [see bone-ace]. 1716 Gentl. Instructed (ed. 6) 19 You would have thought this one and twenty came in a direct Line from Hercules, he play'd the Furioso so lively. 1728 Vanbr. & Cib. Prov. Husb. ii. i, You and I, and Sister, forsooth, sometimes, in an Afternoon, may play at One and thirty Bone-Ace, purely. 1765 Priv. Lett. Ld. Malmesbury I. 142 You ask me whether I play whist: very often, but oftener at one-and-thirty, which is the fashionable game among the young ladies of this country. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, One-and-thirty, a game at cards, much resembling Vingt-un.

    c. one or two = a very few, a small number of.

1535 Coverdale 1 Kings xvii. 12, I haue gathered up one or two stickes. 1748 Richardson Clarissa Wks. 1883 VI. 220 For the sake of better managing one or two executorships. Mod. Butterflies are coming out: I have seen one or two to-day.

    3. a. Used before collective numerals (dozen, score, hundred, thousand, million, etc.), and fractions (half, quarter, third, eighth, etc., to which one is often hyphened), with more precise or definite force than the indef. article a, an (a dozen, a hundred, a half); and so usually in legal phraseology, and in association with other numbers. (See also the words in question.)

13.. R. Glouc. (Rolls) App. XX. 546 Me scholde ȝiue him anon On hundred schillinges. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI 150 Amountyng to the some of one thousand poundes. 1606 G. W[oodcocke] Hist. Ivstine xi. 46 In his Army were thirty two thousand footemen, foure thousand and fiue hundred horsemen, and one hundreth, fourescore, and two shippes. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. i. viii. (1869) I. 71 One-half the chidren born..die before the age of manhood. 1809–10 Coleridge Friend (1865) 151 The price of labour..is fully one-third less. 1876 Preece & Sivewright Telegraphy 179 No less weight than one-hundreth..of the minimum will be reckoned. 1896 Daily News 30 Nov. 6/6 There was a keen competition for the three one-hundred guinea cups. Mod. (Statutory dating) In the year of Our Lord, One thousand, eight hundred, and ninety-nine.

    † b. Formerly prefixed to other numeral expressions. Now Obs.

1565 J. Calfhill Answ. Treat. Crosse (Parker Soc.) 114 When Calleis and Guines, so hardly won,..was easily in one three days with shame lost. 1611 Bible Dan. iii. 19 That they should heat the furnace one seuen times more then it was wont to be heat.

    4. a. Sometimes put for the ordinal number first.
    Now chiefly in giving the number of the year or day of the month, or in other cases when the n. precedes, as in Isaiah, chapter fifty-one, Psalm ninety-one, the æneid, book one. in the year one (humorous), a long while ago, time out of mind.

1382 Wyclif Ezek. xxxi. 1 In the elleuenthe ȝeer, in the thridde moneth, in oon of the moneth [1388 the firste dai of the moneth]. 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. xv. xiii. (1886) 348 This psalme..being the fiftie one psalme. 1611 Bible Gen. viii. 13 In the sixe hundredth and one yeere, in the first moneth. 1625–6 Purchas Pilgrims II. 1417 The twentie one day [we departed] from Bullomash. 1754 Foote Knights i. Wks. 1799 I. 62 A coach of his grandfather's built in the year 1. 1853 Miss Mulock Agatha's Husb. II. v. 173 Fred was a very fascinating young fellow when I was a child—But all that belongs to the year One.

    b. murder one: see murder n. 7.
    5. absol. (with the abstract conception of number).

1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. cxvi. (1495) 919 One is the rote and moder of nombres, and one is not many. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 364/1 Oone, unus. 1583 Babington Commandm. vii. (1637) 68 A thousand to one we forsake the Lord. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. i. i. 72 Twenty to one then, he is ship'd already. 1660 Stanley Hist. Philos. ix. (1701) 378/2 They make a difference betwixt the Monad and One, concerning the Monad to be that which exists in Intellectuals; One, in numbers. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, One in Ten, a Parson. 1705 Vanbrugh Confed. v. i, One, two, three, and away! 1719 De Foe Crusoe ii. vii, It would be a thousand to one but he would repent his choice. a 1902 Mod. One from twenty leaves nineteen. The quotient of one divided by nought is infinity. Twelve is to four as three is to one.

    b. one in (a specified number): designating a gradient in which the height increases or decreases by one foot (or other measure) vertically for the specified number of feet, etc., horizontally; also ellipt. as n.

1830 M. Edgeworth Let. 18 Oct. (1971) 419 The inclined plane the rise of which was one in 36. 1869, etc. [see in prep. 4]. 1910 Kipling Diversity of Creatures (1917) 322 It was all of a one in three gradient. 1968 N. Tranter Cable from Kabul iii. 37 Down at the foot of a one-in-three hill, I found myself in some sort of village. 1971 G. Household Doom's Caravan ii. 44 Its original builders had no objection to a slope of one in four. 1976 J. Wainwright Bastard i. 11, I slither and skid the car up the one-in-six.

    6. a. Hence, as n. with plur., Unity; a unit; a single thing, or the abstract number denoting a single thing.

1542 Recorde Gr. Artes 117 The fyrste place is the place of vnities or ones, and euery counter set in that lyne betokeneth but one. 1575 Laneham Let. (1871) 54 Nor [two] it self can well bee coounted a number, but rather a freendly coniunction of too ones. 1594 Blundevil Exerc. i. i. (1636) 2 Number is a collection or summe of many ones or unities added together. 1659 Stanley Hist. Philos. xi. (1701) 448/1 All Singulars are reduced to a One, that is, to their respective Communities.

    b. A single person, thing, example, etc.

1840 Thackeray Catherine i, Afterwards, sauntering by ones and twos, came the village maidens. 1889 Pall Mall G. 13 Feb. 3/1 Magazines..which are now sold in ones where they used to be sold in hundreds.

    c. The symbol or figure (1. I. i.) denoting unity.

Mod. A row of ones. A Roman one. Your ones are too like sevens.

    d. colloq. (now number one) = Oneself, one's own interest. See also number n. 5 b.

1567 R. Edwards Damon & Pithias in Hazl. Dodsley IV. 16 All my time at school I have not spent vainly, I can help one: is not that a good point of philosophy? 1740 tr. De Mouhy's Fort. Country-Maid (1741) II. 288 But my Gentleman..very silently made off, to take care of one. 1830 Galt Lawrie T. iii. ix. (1849) 113 He had an eye awake to number one. 1849 Darwin in Life & Lett. I. 369, I do not see my way clearly, beyond humbly endeavouring to reform Number one.

    II. Emphatic numeral.
    7. a. One in contrast to two or more: one and no more, one only; a single.

c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke xviii. 22 Ða cwæð se hælend an þing þe is wana. a 1225 Ancr. R. Pref. 23 This an Boc is todealet in eahte lesse Boke. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 304 Noght o word spak he moore than was neede. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 46 We mani are oo body, & a life þat alle taken part of oo lofe & of oo cuppe. 1482 J. Paston in P. Lett. III. 290 Non oo man a lyve hathe callyd so oft upon yow as I. a 1548 Hall Chron., Rich. III 26 Bothe houseled with one hoste devided betwene theim. Ibid., Hen. VIII 134 Thei set not by the Frenche kyng one bene. 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utop. i. (1895) 106 The one and onlye waye to the wealthe of a communaltye. 1600 E. Blount tr. Conestaggio Apol. A iij b, Tell me if..I have omitted any one point of importance. 1615 W. Lawson Country Housew. Gard. (1626) 2 No one man is sufficient for these things. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 32 And transgress his Will For one restraint, Lords of the World besides. 1818 Lady C. Lamb Let. in Lady Morgan's Autobiog. (1859) 49 So you did not vouchsafe one word to me,—what, not one? 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. II. lii. 303 Some one man must be given the power of direction.

    b. Strengthened by but, only, single, sole, alone.

c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 27 Erðon he nefde bute enne deofel nu he haueð sefene. c 1386 Chaucer Sompn. T. 143 Now sire, quod she, but o word ere I go; My child is deed. c 1450 Mirour Saluacioun 1513 Crist was noght temptid onely of o vice bot of thre. 1450–80 tr. Secreta Secret. 20 Truste thou neuyr in oon sool ffisiciane. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour xxiii, He is not so hardy to discouere ne say one onely word. 1579 Fenton Guicciard. (1618) 212 A litle rocke which is all of one onely stone. 1596 L. Piot (Munday) tr. Silvayn's Orator 187 If then one alone ingratitude is punishable. 1601 Breton Longing Blessed Heart in Farr S.P. Eliz. I. 193 Amidde the ayre one onely phœnix flies. c 1618 Sir W. Mure Misc. xix. 16 If thou wouchaife bot on smyle. 1761 Hume Hist. Eng. III. lx. 297 One person alone of the garrison escaped. 1845 M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 22 He had but one voice amongst many. 1865 Lubbock Preh. Times x. (1878) 329 Only one single unworked flint.

    c. Used as a more emphatic substitute for the indefinite article: (a) with adjs. in sense ‘a very ―’, ‘an extremely ―’; (b) with ns., esp. hell (see hell n. 4 d, helluva). colloq.

1828 Punch & Judy i. i. 77 Toby, you're one nasty cross dog: get away with you! 1911 J. London Let. 7 Apr. (1966) 343 Let me tell you that you have given me one hell of a time. 1920 [see hell n. 4 d]. 1925 T. Dreiser Amer. Trag. (1926) i. xii. 82 He went out in the kitchen and blacked up an' put on a waiter's apron and coat and then comes back and serves us. That's one funny boy. 1934 [see helluva]. 1948 E. Pound Pisan Cantos (1949) lxxviii. 66 Steele that is one awful name. 1967 ‘T. Wells’ Dead by Light of Moon (1968) xi. 111, I wondered what Mai Farmer was doing. She was one striking girl. 1967 [see helluva]. 1972 A. Price Col. Butler's Wolf xii. 132 The last two, three weeks he was one worried young man. 1973 J. Di Mona Last Man at Arlington (1974) ii. xvi. 100 ‘Tell everyone I'm not Cuban,’ said Medwick, hoping to get a rise out of the driver. But none came. This was one serious boy. 1976 Publishers Weekly 9 Feb. 85 (Advt.), Come spring, this [forthcoming book] is going to be One Hot Number.

    8. a. predicatively. Single, individual.

a 1300 Cursor M. 573 (Cott.) God..es an [v. rr. ane, on, oon] and thre. 1382 Wyclif Luke ix. 38 Maistir,..byhold in to my sone, for he is oon aloone to me. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 248/8976 Yiff thow be on, declare to me; Yiff thow be double outher tweyne. a 1619 M. Fotherby Atheom. ii. x. §3 (1622) 305 If that word may be vsed, he is of all things, the Onest. 1722 Wollaston Relig. Nat. ix. 189 We know no such thing as a part of matter purely one (or indivisible). 1789 Belsham Ess. II. xxxvi. 300 The action is neither one, entire, nor great. 1851 Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. xi. 132 The army is one, and that is the oneness of unity. The soldier is one, but that is the oneness of the unit. 1864 Bowen Logic viii. 229 The Syllogistic process in the mind is really one and undivided.

    b. absol. or as n.

c 1205 Lay. 1804 Heora nomen ne herdi neuer tellen..Boten þes anes name, þa heore alre lauerd wes. 1587 Golding De Mornay iii. 29 The One or Vnitie wherupon all the diuine Vnities are grounded. 1598 R. Grenewey Tacitus, Ann. i. iv. (1622) 6 That the Common-wealth was but one body, and therefore to be gouerned by ones only wisedom. 1744 Berkeley Siris §343 The Good or One. 1839 Bailey Festus xxvii. (1852) 460 Thus spake the One again: Behold, O Earth!..it is I who gave thee birth.

    9. One at least, one at any rate (as distinguished from ‘none at all’).

1481 Caxton Reynard xxx. (Arb.) 79 Ther ben many of them that for his sake and loue wille auenture lyf and good. I know my self for one. 1638 R. Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. II) 19 It sufficeth me that I have this one way left me. 1765 Foote Commissary iii. (1782) 54 That's one comfort, however. c 1784 Nelson Let. to Locker in A. Duncan Life (1806) 321, I for one am determined. 1821 Keats Isabella xliii, Sing to it one latest lullaby. 1879 Morley Burke 140 It is probable, for one thing, that the feelings of the Prince of Wales had more to do with it.

    III. In pregnant senses.
    10. a. One made up of many components, a united.

c 1000 ælfric Hom. I. 284 ælc ðæra þreora is God, þeah⁓hwæðere hi ealle an God. a 1225 Ancr. R. 26 Ȝe þreo beoð o God. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. Prol. 296 [They] songen with o vois. c 1386 ― Merch. T. 91 They moste nedes lyue in vnitee O flessh they been. c 1420 Avow. Arth. xxxix, Thenne sex ar atte on assente. 1526 Tindale Matt. xix. 5 They twane shalbe won flese. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 112 The chiefe Lordes..as it were in a fury cryed with one voyce, By the blood of God. 1725 Watts Logic i. iv. §1 We join simple ideas to make one complex one. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 16 One cry of grief and rage rose from the whole of Protestant Europe. 1851 [see 8 a]. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 196 All of them with one voice vehemently assented.

    b. pred. (esp. = united in marriage).

1590 L. Lloyd Diall Daies 91 The victory of this triumphant King did much exceed all their victories being made one. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 25 ¶7 We have been both one these two Months. 1820 Landor Heroic Idylls, Thrasymedes & Ennoe 96 He spake; and on the morrow they were one.

    11. One in continuity; the same in all parts, at all times, or in all circumstances; uniformly the same; one and the same.

a 1225 Ancr. R. 6 For þi heo is euer on & schal beon, wiðute monglunge & wiðute chaungunge. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 458 Bot ever stond styll in won dygre. a 1425 Cursor M. 1024 (Trin.) In oon elde shal he euer be fast. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 155 But the weight of the ounce Troy,..continued alwayes one. a 1592 H. Smith Serm. (ed. Tegg) I. 169 Month after month he is all one. 1656 Stanley Hist. Philos. v. (1701) 162/1 Nothing is one, constant, nor the same, because all things are in continual alteration and fluxion. 1744 Berkeley Siris §344 God remains for ever one and the same. 1869 M. Pattison Serm. (1885) 188 Existence is one and uniform throughout the cognoscible.

    12. One in relation to two or more things or persons; one in substance; identical; the same. one with, forming part of one whole with.

c 1000 ælfric Hom. I. 284 Hi ealle habbað an ᵹecynd, and ane godcundnysse, and ane edwiste [etc.]. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 91 Hi alle hefden ane heorte and ane sawle. a 1225 Ancr. R. 6 Alle ne muwe nout holden one riwle. 1382 Wyclif Eph. iv. 5 O Lord, o feith, o baptym, o God and fadir of alle. a 1425 Cursor M. 4246 (Trin.) Putifar..held Ioseph in menskeful lore þei her layes oon not wore. 1552 Bk. Com. Prayer Communion, We be one with Christ, & Christ with vs. 1632 Lithgow Trav. viii. 353 Their breaches and stockings being all one. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 226 Beneath one Law they live, And with one Common Stock their Traffick drive. 1799 Med. Jrnl. I. 170 The different earths..are modifications of one and the same simple substance, the basis of earth. 1821 Shelley Adonais xlii, He is made one with Nature. a 1848 R. W. Hamilton Rew. & Punishm. vii. (1853) 323 The author of nature and Christianity is one.

    13. a. One in kind; the same in quality or nature.
    Formerly used also with pl. n.

a 1300 Cursor M. 18845 (Cott.) Berd and hefd of a [v. rr. an, on] heu ware. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. iii. 237 Tho þat entren of o colour, And of on wille. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 154 Bothe in oon Armes wroght ful richely. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 161 It berithe no force to do ille as for to do welle, alle passithe and vnder one thanke. 1526 Tindale 2 Cor. xiii. 11 Be of one mynde. 1549 Latimer 5th Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 149 They are all one apples I warrante you Syr. 1868 Lockyer Elem. Astron. iii. (1879) 56 All the planets revolve round the sun in one direction.

    b. predicatively. The same; the same thing. Often strengthened by all: see all C. 5.

c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 26 It is al oon to seie þat þese goodis ben þus sacrid. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. ix. 204 This Aust and May in houris lengthe are oon. c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode i. xlix. (1869) 29 For j seyd not in alle places, but in alle times; and þat is not oon. 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. v. ix. (1886) 87 It [witchcraft] is all one with rebellion. 1631 R. Bolton Comf. Affl. Consc. vi. (1635) 36 All is One to Him, to make an Angell, or an Ant. c 1670 Hobbes Dial. Comm. Laws 50 Which is also one as if he were Judge himself. 1816 J. Wilson City of Plague i. iv. 371 All names are one to me. 1861 G. W. Dasent Story Burnt Njal II. 402 Silver by tale and silver by weight was all one.

    14. One in mind, feeling, intention, or bearing; in unison, harmonious; at one.

c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 24 At haly kirke's fayth alle on were boþe. a 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV 212 Rimes and poyses, whiche purported the Frenche kyng and the erle of Warwicke wer al one. 1715–20 Pope Odyss. iii. 155 Thy sire and I were one; nor varied aught In public sentence or in private thought. 1802 Campbell Lochiel's Warning 42 Their swords are a thousand, their bosoms are one! 1804 Pitt in G. Rose's Diaries (1860) II. 97 Addington and I are one again. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. cxxii, In all her motion one with law.

    IV. In a particularizing or partitive sense.
    15. One from amongst others, one of a number or of several; a particular, an individual. a. attrib.
    one day, on a particular day in the past; on some undefined day in the future; see day 7 b.

892 O.E. Chron., Ðær stent lang leoma of, hwilum on ane healfe, hwilum on ælce healfe. a 1300 Cursor M. 10180 In thrin his godes did he dele, þat godd had lent him of his lane; To pour part þan gaf he ane. c 1386 Chaucer Frankl. T. 204 Oon of the beste farynge man on lyue. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 83 In oo contray of Ynde. c 1425 Seven Sag. (P.) 2807 As he rode in the londe O day a toun he fande. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour K iij, [He] sayd to his moder that one tyme shold come. c 1489 ― Sonnes of Aymon x. 272 But of all Fraunce I am one of the best & truest Knyght that be in it. a 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV 233 One day there entered into the towne..ix M. Englishmen. 1588 J. Udall Diotrephes (Arb.) 5, I hope to see them one day all put downe. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 230 One-while we weep, and sodainly we laugh againe. 1692 E. Walker Epictetus' Mor. xxxiv, One while your Hand you'll try In Wrestling. 1749 ‘R. Goadby’ Carew (ed. 2) 214 Being feasting one Night with several of his Subjects. 1785 Burns Addr. to Deil vii, Ae dreary, windy, winter night. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. i. 17 Such is one aspect of these old arrangements.

    b. absolutely with of; formerly with gen. pl., as {uacu}re án, one of us; rarely without either, as in to make one, to form one of a company. Also one of those: a homosexual; one of us: a member of our group; spec. (a) a harlot (obs.); (b) a homosexual. colloq.; one of these days: see day n. 7 b; one of those days: see day n. 7 b.

875 O.E. Chron., ælfred cyning..hiera an ᵹefeng. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke xv. 4 ᵹif he for-lyst an of þam. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 21 Þah ure an heofde idon eower alre sunne. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 219 On of þo was ysaie þe prophete. a 1300 Cursor M. 19509 Philip, þat was o dekens an, þe neiest fra steuen was slan. 1340 Ayenb. 129 Be enne of his angles. 1485 Nottingham Rec. III. 233 John Wylliamson, oon of the Chaumberleyns. 1588 Parke tr. Mendoza's Hist. China 399 Euerie one of them are bound to giue the king to eate. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. ii. iii. 48 If I see a sword out, my finger itches to make one. 1653 Holcroft Procopius ii. 40 He killed on of their best men, and routed the rest. 1686 tr. Agiatis or Civ. Wars Lacedemonians 26 One of his Friends came and proposed to him, to make one at a Feast. 1785 Grose Dict. Vulgar T., One of us, one of my cousins, a woman of the town, a harlot. 1795 Gentl. Mag. July 581/2 Irony..is one of those edged tools which require skilful handling. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xii. III. 204 One of the wealthiest Roman Catholics in the kingdom. 1915 Conrad Victory i. ii. 9 Morrison was ‘one of us’. He was owner and master of the Capricorn, trading brig, and was understood to be doing well with her. 1933 [see nancy2]. 1956 [see camp a. and n.5]. 1961 Partridge Dict. Slang Suppl. 1207/1 One of us, he's, he is a homosexual. 1968 J. R. Ackerley My Father & Myself xvi. 185, I divined that he was homosexual, or as we put it, ‘one of us’. 1976 Times 27 May 16/4 It would go a long way towards helping..to understand..if others would stop saying ‘New Commonwealth’ when they mean something like ‘coffee-coloured’ and ‘Old Commonwealth’ when they mean..‘One of us’. 1977 Gay News 24 Mar. 18/2 Her husband..probably fits none of the stereotypes whereby she would normally identify ‘one of those’.

    c. a one: a person who is remarkable, extraordinary, outrageous, impudent, etc.; esp. in phr. you are a one; (a) one for: a person who likes, admires, practises, supports, etc. (something) to an outstanding degree; a devotee, champion, or admirer of (something); (a) one to: the sort of person who would (do a particular thing). colloq.

1880 C. M. Yonge Bye-Words 303 Tittering, and now and then, ‘O Miss Annie, don't, pray!’ ‘O Miss Annie, you are a one!’ 1888 ― Our New Mistress i. 3 Her daughters..all married, except Lady Mary, who was always such a one for schools and poor people. 1894 S. Baring-Gould Queen of Love II. vi. 59, I am not one to fly in the face of Providence. 1906 E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands iii. 29 ‘Oh, Mr. Ellis, you are a one!’ she said. 1927, etc. [see great a. 16 a]. 1932 N. Royde-Smith Incredible Tale 91 She was a one for football. 1934 N. Marsh Man lay Dead vii. 126 ‘The left-hand print on the stair knob is Mr. Wilde's,’ said Bailey. ‘Is it?’ answered Alleyn without enthusiasm. ‘Aren't you a one?’ 1935 G. Heyer Death in Stocks iii. 22 Constable Dickenson had warned the Inspector that she was not one to talk. 1948 ‘G. Orwell’ Let. 10 July in Coll. Ess. (1968) IV. 438 Farm life seems to suit him, though I am pretty sure he is one for machines rather than animals. 1966 J. B. Priestley Salt is Leaving viii. 96 You're a bit of a one, aren't you, Dr Salt? 1973 J. Thomson Death Cap vi. 86 He's never been one for the women. I think he's a bit afraid of them.

    16. a. In antithesis to one in the sense of ‘another’.

c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xvii. 4 Þreo eardung-stowa, þe ane, moyse ane & helie ane. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 2670 Thi child worth the noblest man Of al this world an for an. c 1585 R. Browne Answ. Cartwright 5 All Master Cartwrights arguments falleth from one to one, till it come to nothing at all. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado ii. iii. 66 One foote in sea, and one on shore. 1628 Hobbes Thucyd. (1822) 25 The Corcyreans..were divided into three commands under the three commanders one under one. c 1700 Addison To the King 28 One Age the Hero, one the Poet breeds. 1736 Gray Statius i. 12 Of Pisa one, and one from Ephyre.

    b. Phrase. one by one (also one after one), formerly one and one, by one and one: = One after another, one at a time, singly.

a 1000 Sal. & Sat. 385 Ac sceal on ᵹebyrd faran an æfter anum. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 76 Ete..ænne and ænne. c 1230 Hali Meid. 25 Mon..nimeð an after an. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2323 He gan hem ransaken on and on. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. ix. (MS. Bodl.) lf. 250/2 Nowȝt..alle atte ones but one and one. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xxvii. 325 The tayles that he can till vs shaw, By oone and oon. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 140, I will examyne you one by one my self. 1575–85 Abp. Sandys Serm. (Parker Soc.) 206 Reckon them up by one and one. 1607 Markham Caval. i. (1617) 78 So must you vse the rest one after one. 1723 Chambers tr. Le Clerc's Treat. Archit. I. 34 The Columns must only stand one by one. 1742 Young Nt. Th. viii. 131 Its little Joys go out by One and One. 1820 Keats St. Agnes xli, By one, and one, the bolts full easy slide. 1845 Wordsw. Love lies bleeding 32 One after one submitting to their doom. 1865 Kingsley Hereward v, She pledged one by one each of the guests.

    17. a. In antithesis to another, other, others: with or without n. following. one and another, more than one, two or more in succession.

a 1000 Cædmon's Satan 26 An æfter oðrum in þæt atole scref. c 1000 [see 18]. a 1300 Cursor M. 2409 Sai þou for⁓þi til an and oþer [Trin. to oone & oþer] Þou art my sister and i þi broþer. c 1315 Shoreham i. 633 (p. 24) Wanne þer hys o þyng yked, An oþer to onder-stonde. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 28 Oon elde axiþ o manere of lyvynge and anoþir anoþir. 1484 Caxton Fables of æsop iv. vi, The bocher took him all one after another. 1513 More Rich. III (1821) 46 Knoweth anye manne anye place wherein it is lawfull one manne to dooe another wrong? 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 100 All stirrings one and other are nothing but gobyes or shiftings of bodies. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 34 ¶7 Taken away from me, by one or other of the Club. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones vii. vii, What's one man's meat is another man's poison. 1871 Besant & Rice Ready Money Mortiboy i, If one catches another's eye. Mod. I have heard it from one and another during the week.

    b. one with another: † (a) (also one and another), Together (obs. or arch.). (b) One taken with another so as to deduce an average; on the average.

1429 Rolls of Parlt. IV. 360/1 Oone yere with anothyr. 1496 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 183 Ij mastes..price oon with another—ixli. 1535 Coverdale Ps. xlviii. [xlix.] 2 Hye & lowe, riche & poore, one with another. c 1550 Decay of Eng. by Shepe (E.E.T.S.) 101 For euery towne and vyllage,—take them one with an other throughout all,—there is one plowe decayed. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 278 When all the Scottes were assembled, they were one and other fiftie thousand fightyng men. 1613 Jackson Creed i. xxii. §4 Of which the Heathen, one and other, were altogether ignorant. 1652 Earl of Monmouth tr. Bentivoglio's Hist. Relat. 15 They contribute one year with another eight millions of Florins, for the service of their generall union. a 1687 Petty Pol. Arith. (1690) 76 The same..Persons do spend one with another about 18{supd} per diem. a 1774 Goldsm. Surv. Exp. Philos. (1776) II. 74 The mercury..in the tube will sink down to about twenty-nine inches and an half, one time with another. 1809 R. Langford Introd. Trade 125, 35 bales of silk, weighing one with another 2 cwt. 3 qr. 19 lb.

    c. one thing: something acceptable or satisfactory, contrasted with another (thing) that is unacceptable or unsatisfactory.

a 1678 H. Scougal Life of God (1726) 392, I do not condemn all chearfulness and freedom, nor the innocent exercises of wit: but it is one thing to make use of these now and then when they come in our way, and another to search and haunt after them. 1735 Berkeley Defence Free-Thinking in Math. xxxvii. 44 It is one thing when a Doctrine is placed in various lights: and another, when the principles and notions are shifted. 1828 Scott Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. I. viii. 244 It is one thing to employ the revenues of the Church..in the suitable and dutiful reception of your royal Majesty, and another to have it wrenched from us by the hands of rude and violent men. 1904 H. James Golden Bowl (1905) v. 66 It was one thing to have met the girl casually at Mrs. Assingham's and another to arrange with her thus for a morning practically as private as their old mornings in Rome and practically not less intimate.

    d. Ellipt. for ‘one or the other’. U.S. dial.

1895 Dialect Notes I. 373 One seems to be superfluous or else ‘or the other’ is omitted. ‘I will see you or send word, one.’ 1926 E. M. Roberts Time of Man (1927) vii. 257, I met a parcel of travelers that owned a bear could read or tell fortunes—one, I forget which. Ibid. viii. 298 It was the road overseer's fault.., or the magistrate's, one. 1937 Scribner's Mag. Apr. 22/2 He's making it [sc. liquor] on my farm or your farm, one. 1938 M. K. Rawlings Yearling xv. 169 Now do things go wrong again, you or Buck, one, ride back for me. So long.

    18. a. Of two things, now usually, the one{ddd}the other (rarely in poetry without the). the one and the other = both (= F. l'un et l'autre).
    [OE. had only án..óþer, but the article is found prefixed bef. 1200, of which the neuter þæt án..þæt óþer, retaining the final -t in combination, became the reg. ME. for all genders, as þat or þet an (one)..þat or þet oþer, commonly divided the tan (ta, tone, to)..the tother, still preserved dialectally, either in full or as tone (tane)..tother. In course of the 16th c. the one..the other, had become the literary form. The one (thet o, thet on) = one of the two, L. alter, is also used when the other is not expressed. See also tone, tother.]

[c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke xvii. 36 Tweᵹen beoð æt æcere: án bið ᵹenumen, óþer bið læfed.] c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 81 Þe an is aquenched..and þe oðer is aquenched al buten a gnast. c 1205 Lay. 3881 Þe an sloh þene oðren [c 1275 Ac þe on sloh þan oþer]. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 92 Muchedel of engelond þe on half al bi weste. a 1300 Cursor M. 3928 On þe ta [v. rr. þat a, þe to] side o flum jordan. 1340 Ayenb. 119 Þe on ine þe on and þe oþer ine þe oþer. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 101 On þe to side and þe oþer. 1388 Wyclif Luke xvii. 35 The toon shal be takun, and the tother left. 1535 Coverdale Prov. xxx. 15 Y⊇ one is called, fetch hither: the other bringe hither. 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. iii. viii. §10 Unless God's miracles had strengthened both the one and the other's doctrine. 1599 Porter Angry Wom. Abingd. in Hazl. Dodsley VII. 378, I could please tone, But it is hard when there is two to one. 1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. i. 94 Reasonable men, both t'one and t'other. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 138 One Monarch wears an honest open Face;..That other looks like Nature in Disgrace. 1742 Richardson Pamela III. 193 A little awkward Piece of One-and-t'other. a 1774 Goldsm. Hist. Greece I. 386 Both the one and the other of us equally injure justice and religion. 1816 Scott Antiq. xxvii, My lord cares as little about the tane as the tother.

    b. When the one and the other refer severally to two things previously named, they are by some taken as equivalent to the former and the latter, by others as = the latter and the former.
    The first of these appears to be the earlier and natural use; it is also that observed in Fr. and Ger.: see G. Duvivier Gramm. des Gramm. ed. 1842, I. 410; Grimm s.v. Ander 308. The second is probably suggested by the Lat. use of hic and ille, or Eng. this and that.

c 1320 Cast. Loue 631 A child..þat þreo ffeet and þreo honden beere, And anoþer..þat hedde ffoot or Hond forlore..Þe on hedde kuynde ouer meþ And þat oþer to luyte. 1460 Bk. Quintessence 9 Þe maistrie of departynge of gold fro siluir..Whanne ȝe wole drawe þe toon fro þat oþir. 1529 More Dyaloge iii. i. Wks. 206. 1549 Latimer 4th Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 120 The fyrste manne..denied the matter vtterly. The seconde felowe..acknoweleged the fault..The one denyed the matter, and the tother confessed it. 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. iii. viii. §13 In the presence of Festus a Roman, and of King Agrippa a Jew, St. Paul omitting the one, who neither knew the Jews' religion nor the books..speaketh unto the other of things foreshewed by Moses and the Prophets. 1599 Shakes. Pass. Pilgr. 106 If music and sweet poetry agree..Then must the love be great 'twixt thee and me, Because thou lovest the one, and I the other. 1625 Bacon Ess., Building (Arb.) 549 A Side for the Banquet..and a Side for the Houshold; The One for Feasts and Triumphs, the Other for Dwelling. 1668 H. More Div. Dial. ii. xx. (1713) 151 Betwixt the Isopleuron and Scalenum, not so ordinate a Figure as the one, nor so inordinate as the other. 1690 Locke Hum. Underst. iii. viii. §1 (R.) Our simple ideas have all abstract as well as concrete names; the one whereof is a substantive, the other an adjective, as whiteness, white. 1746 W. Horsley Fool (1748) II. 101. 1771 Goldsm. Hist. Eng. I. 349 The death of John and the abdication of Lewis..The one was brought about by accident, and the other by the prudence..of the earl of Pembroke.

1573 L. Lloyd Marrow of Hist. (1653) 247 Sampson and Hercules..the one prostrated his Club at Deianiræes foot, the other committed his strength to the beauty of Delilah. 1606 G. W[oodcocke] Hist. Ivstine ii. 6 The women were accounted nothing inferior to the men. For as the one founded the Empires of the Persians and Bactrians, so the other errected the souerainty of the Amazons. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 695. 1685 tr. Gracian's Courtiers Oracle ccviii. (1694) 181 Some die because they feel, and others live because they feel not. So that the one are fools because they die not of feeling, and the others because they die of it. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. 117 The nobility and the clergy, the one by profession, the other by patronage, kept learning in existence. 1886 Fairbairn City of God iv. iii. 356 Where the exchange and the cathedral stand together, the one for admiration, the other for business.

    19. Reciprocally, of two or more: one another (formerly, of two, one{ddd}other, and the one{ddd}the other), one being grammatical subject, and another object: they met one another, they spoke one to another, now usually to one another (in 16–17th c. also to one the other), in which the grammatical relation is lost sight of, and one another becomes a kind of reflexive pron., having like these, the object. and possess. (one another's), but no nominative case. (Cf. each other, each 5.)

1340 Ayenb. 115 We ssolle ech louye oþer, and naȝt hatie, ne harmi mid wrong on þe oþer. a 1450 Myrc 186 These schule neuer on wedde other. c 1450 Merlin vii. 113 Begonne for to iape oon to another. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour D viij, That they may be enamoured one of other. 1506 in Mem. Hen. VII (Rolls) 286 So they intersaluted the one the other and departed. 1526 Tindale John xiii. 35 Yf ye shall haue loue won to another. 1548 Forrest Pleas. Poesye xviii. 54 b, Wone then labored another touerthrowe. 1587 Golding De Mornay xiv. 203 Without anoying the one the other. 1597 J. King On Jonas (1618) 182 We should spare one the others life. 1617 Moryson Itin. ii. 107 Neither..can we..often heare one from another. 1632 Lithgow Trav. v. 204 We oft fell one ouer another. 1600 Barrow Euclid i. Ax. 8 Things which agree together, are equal one to the other. 1745 P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 40 They are no more one like another than an Apple is like an Oyster.

1526 Tindale Rom. xii. 5 Se we beynge many are one body in Christ: and every man..one anothers members. Ibid. xiii. 8 Owe no thinge to eny man; but to love one another [Wyclif, loue to gidre]. 1590 Lodge Rosalind (Cassell) 154 They strained one another's hand. 1598 R. Grenewey Tacitus, Germania i. (1622) 258 By mutual fear of one the other. 1652 French Yorksh. Spa ii. 6 Elements..mutually transmutable into one the other. 1657 R. Ligon Barbadoes (1673) 68 The Horses..struck at one another. 1675 Hobbes Odyss. (1677) 100 The horrid winds..toss'd me into one anothers hand. 1698 Wanley in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 257 We never saw one another before. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 50 ¶4 These two were great Enemies to one another. 1711 Budgell Ibid. No. 161 ¶3 Cudgel-Players, who were breaking one another's Heads. 1885 Act 48 & 49 Vict. c. 54 §14 Churches..within four miles of one another.

    V. indef. pron. (with genitive one's).
    20. A person or being whose identity is left undefined; some one, a certain one, an individual, a person (L. quidam). A following pronoun referring to one is in the 3rd pers. sing., as ‘One showed himself to his townsmen, who derided him’.
    In this sense one has the stress of an independent word, which distinguishes it from the next.
    † a. simply = A person; some one. arch. or Obs.

1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 5864 As me him drinke tok, on was prest ynou, & þoru is wombe smot a knif. 1382 Wyclif John xviii. 39 It is a custom to ȝou that I delyuer oon to ȝou in pask. c 1400 Destr. Troy 8590 ‘Achilles þe choise kyng’, oon chaunsit to say. c 1425 Lydg. Assembly of Gods 542 Oon to Pluto roode, And told hym how Eolus was in hys daungere. a 1548 Hall Chron., Rich. III 26 Then one brought hym a cup with wine. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 145 A mad dog had suddenly tore in pieces a garment about ones body. a 1649 Winthrop New Eng. (1853) I. 210 This month one went by land to Connecticut, and returned safe. 1759 R. Brown Compl. Farmer 118 One in the Hundreds of Essex made a great improvement.

    b. Defined by a n. in apposition.

1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 197 Þe castel of caryl held on willam louel. 1416 Plumpton Corr. p. xlv, An John of Lawe, chapman, sold unto Richard Clerk [etc.]. 1484 Surtees Misc. (1888) 42 Ye iijde daye of Decembre, came oon Thomas Watson. 1521 Fisher Serm. agst. Luther Wks. (1876) 312 Oon Martyn luther a frere. 1526 Tindale Acts xxv. 19 Certayne questions..off their awne supersticion, and of one Iesus which was ded [1388 Wyclif, of oon Iesu deed], whom Paul affirmed to be alive. 1692 Washington tr. Milton's Def. Pop. Wks. 1738 I. 500 After his death they rebell'd again, and created one Tachus King. 1772 H. Walpole Last Jrnls. (1859) I. 2 Wilkes published an answer to one Stephens and others, who had attacked him. 1885 G. Denman in Law Times Rep. LIII. 468/2 He died in 1859, leaving the property in question to one Ann Duncan.

    c. Defined by a clause or phrase. (When referring to God, written One.)

1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 4085 Some clerkes says þat an sal come Þat sal hald þe empire of Rome. c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame ii. 54 Ryght in the same vois and stevene That vseth oon I koude nevene. 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys Introd. (Roxb.) 6 The..besy preyere Of oon whom I love wyth herte entere. 1530 Palsgr. 249/2 One that spytteth moche, crachart. Ibid., One of affinite, affin. 1537 Cranmer Let. to Cromwell in Misc. Writ. (Parker Soc.) II. 336 One named Dale (whom also I knew in Cambridge). a 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV 210 b, One to whome the common welthe was much beholden. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 11 b, It semeth better, to create one of our owne nation that is fit for it. 1604 Shakes. Oth. v. ii. 344 One that lou'd not wisely, but too well. 1654–66 Earl of Orrery Parthen. (1676) 164, I will accompany my ruine with ones, whose loss you will deplore. 1741–2 Gray Agrip. 88 One Who had such liberal power to give. 1825 Scott Betrothed iii, The first time that I have heard one with a beard..avouch himself a coward. 1833 Tennyson May Queen Concl. v, Now, tho' my lamp was lighted late, there's One will let me in. 1836 J. Anstice Hymn, ‘O Lord, how happy should we be’ i, And feel at heart that One above,..Is working for the best. 1871 Morley Carlyle in Crit. Misc. Ser. i. (1878) 198 Mr. Carlyle is as one who does not hear the question.

    21. Any one of everybody; any one whatever; including (and in later language often specially meaning) the speaker himself; ‘you, or I, or any one’; a person, a man; we, you, people, they (= OE. man, ME. me, G. man, F. on). Poss. one's, obj. one, reflexively oneself (formerly one's self); but for these the third person pronouns his, him, himself were formerly usual, and are still sometimes used; thus, ‘If one showed oneself (himself) to one's (his) townsmen, they would know one.’ (The pl. prons. their, them, themselves, were formerly in general use on account of their indefiniteness of gender, but this is now considered ungrammatical.) In this sense one is quite toneless (wən), proclitic or enclitic.

1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 57 He herde a man say that one was surer in keping his tunge, than in moche speking, for in moche langage one may lightly erre. 1530 Palsgr. 586/1, I holde, as a sycknesse holdeth one. 1587 Golding De Mornay iv. 44 It is one thing to change ones self, and another thing to will that there should be a change. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. iv. 49 Why, may one aske? 1607 Hieron Wks. I. 156 When on climeth a high tower or hill, the higher he doth mount, the lesse doth euery thing appeare which is below him. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 748 Their wings are no bigger than halfe ones hand. a 1648 Sir K. Digby Priv. Mem. (1827) 239 To whom one giveth love, one giveth also their will and their whole self. Ibid. 255 Hereby one may take to themselves a lesson. 1650 Earl of Monmouth tr. Senault's Man bec. Guilty 355 If one propose any other end unto himself. 1652 J. Wright tr. Camus' Nat. Paradox iii. 60 At the first falling one's sure to break his neck. 1693 Evelyn De la Quint. Compl. Gard. II. 38, I break them off immediately, which is done with ease..in drawing them towards one. 1794 Paley Evid. (1825) II. 278 It is not what one would have expected. 1834 L. Ritchie Wand. by Seine 192 One's brothers and sisters are a part of one's self. 1865 M. Arnold Ess. Crit. Pref. 9 One cannot be always studying one's works. 1886 W. W. Story Fiammetta 31 One must do what his own nature prescribes. 1956 R. Henriques Red over Green iii. 60 He meant nothing... One can't even remember his face. 1959 E. H. Clements High Tension ii. 19 ‘Do you often have your fan-mail in person?’..‘Not often. One isn't in the telephone book’.

    VI. Pronominal or substantival form of a, an. (With pl. ones.)
    22. An absolute form of a, to avoid repetition of a n.: A person or thing of the kind already mentioned; as ‘I lose a neighbour and you gain one’, ‘He rents a house, but I own one’.
    Formerly, one at the end of a clause or sentence was pleonastic or emphatic.

[1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 405 A wonder maister he was on. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 24 A gode Clerk was he one. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 956 For in my tyme a seruant was I oon.] c 1440 York Myst. xxvii. 170 Loke þat ȝe haue swerdis ilkone, And whoso haues non ȝou by-twene, Shall selle his cote and bye hym one. [c 1440 Ipomydon 872 A sory woman was she one.] 1611 Bible Rom. ii. 28 For he is not a Iew which is one outwardly;..But he is a Iew which is one inwardly. 1863 F. A. Kemble Resid. in Georgia 16 The latter subject is..one sufficiently interesting in itself. a 1902 Mod. I have forgotten an umbrella, and shall be sure to want one; I think I must buy one. You need not; I can lend you one for the time.

    23. Added after demonstrative and pronominal adjs., as the, this, that, yon; any, each, every, many (a), other, such (a), what (a), what kind of (a), which, and (in certain phrases) after a; also after ordinary adjs. preceded by any of these or (in plural) alone; in the sense of A thing or person, pl. things or persons, of the kind in question.
    The addition of one or ones often serves as a definition of number: cf. ‘Which do you choose?’ with ‘Which one do you choose?’ ‘Which ones do you choose?’; ‘the good one, the good ones’ = F. le bon, les bons. After a or the, one has weak stress; after the other words, it is enclitic (ˈðɪswʌn, ˈðætwʌn, əˈgʊdwʌn, ðɪ ˈiːv(ə)lwʌn). As this use began before one took the initial w, the latter is in dialect or colloquial speech often omitted, a good 'un, big 'uns, etc.

971 Blickl. Hom. 127 æt æᵹhwylcum anum þara hongaþ leohtfæt. c 1225 Euerichon [see every 10 b]. c 1250 Euerilc on [ibid.]. 13.. Seuyn Sages (W.) 3035 The knight gat masons many ane. c 1430 Syr Tryam. 1449 Lordus come, as they hett, Many oon stowte and gay. 1463 Bury Wills (Camden) 41 To Will{supa}m Sennowe oon of my short gownys, a good oon wiche as is convenient for hym. 1587 Golding De Mornay ix. 119 Let vs see what maner a ones they be. 1598 B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. iii. ii, Ne'er a one to be found. 1605 Shakes. Macb. iii. iv. 131 There's not a one of them but in his house I keepe a Seruant Feed. 1640 Ld. Digby in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 146 The concentring of all the Royal Lines in his Person, as undisputable as any Mathematical ones in Euclid. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. Disc. iv. iv. (1848) 68 The Author aims at good things, though he does not yet perform great ones. 1736 Butler Anal. ii. viii. 399 The three angles of a triangle are equal to two right ones. 1741 Watts Improv. Mind i. v. §7 There is never a one of them. a 1864 Tennyson Poet's Song 14 The nightingale thought, ‘I have sung many songs, But never a one so gay.’ 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. II. App. 604 There is no reason to think that the pilgrimage was other than a self-imposed one. 1875 Maine Hist. Inst. xii. 342 The examination of new materials and the re-examination of old ones. a 1902 Mod. The ones you mention. The one in the glass. That one on the table. This one will do.

    b. spec. A story or anecdote; a joke; a lie. colloq.

1813, etc. [see good a. 1 g]. 1925 Wodehouse Carry On, Jeeves! x. 254 Story? Story?..I wonder if you've heard the one about the stockbroker and the chorus-girl? 1926 D. L. Sayers Clouds of Witness xiii. 240 Mr. Parker endured five stories with commendable patience, and then suddenly broke down. ‘Hurray!’ said Wimsey... ‘I'll spare you the really outrageous one about the young housewife and the traveller in bicycle-pumps.’ 1931 J. Betjeman Mount Zion 22 Each learning how to be a sinner And tell ‘a good one’ after dinner. 1961 ‘F. O'Brien’ Hard Life x. 71, I will tell you a funny one, Father, Mr Collopy said. 1967 Wodehouse Company for Henry x. 175 The low comedians of his musical comedy days who had called him ‘laddie’ and begged him to stop them if he had heard this one. 1977 Listener 24 Nov. 674/2 ‘Have you heard the one about the Queen Mother?’ We had not heard it, and it was very funny.

    24. After pronominal and other adjs., without contextual reference: = Person, body, persons; as in any one, every one, many a one, some one, such a one; little ones, the Holy One, the Evil One, etc. See further under these words.

c 1225 Everichon [see every 10 c]. a 1300 Cursor M. 17994 (Gött.) Quat es he? þat sua mightful ane? [Trin. What is he þat so myȝty on?] c 1386 Chaucer Wife's Prol. 606, I was a lusty oon [v.r. on], And faire and riche, and yonge. a 1425 Cursor M. 23720 (Tr.) Dame fortune turneþ hir whele anoon þat casteþ doun mony on. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 398/14767, I sawh an old on, ful hydous. 1526 Tindale Matt. x. 42 Whosoever shall geve vnto won of these lytle wonnes to drinke, a cuppe of colde water. 1560 Bible (Genev.) Ruth iv. 1 He sayd, Ho, such one [1611 such a one], come, sit downe here. 1580 Sidney Psalms iii. i, How many ones there be That all against poor me Their numerous strength redouble. 1616 Beaum. & Fl. Scornful Lady iii. ii, This makes you not a Baron, but a bare one. 1665 Manley Grotius' Low C. Warres 3 The Consultations of the great Ones and Governours. 1766 in Waghorn's Cricket Scores (1899) 61 The knowing ones were taken in. 1805 Wordsw. Waggoner i. 115 The evil One is left behind. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown ii. i. (1871) 212 Come along, young'un. 1866 Carlyle Inaug. Addr. 173 And so they gathered together, these speaking ones.

    † VII. Various obsolete uses.
    † 25. = the indef. article, a, an. a. In the 12th and 13th centuries, while the forms of the numeral and of the indefinite article were being differentiated, the former were sometimes used in the weakened sense of the latter. b. Northern writers who used the native ane both as numeral and indef. art. (see ane) occasionally anglicized it as one in the latter sense also. Obs.
    In quot. c 1420, on is distinct from the numeral, which in this text is won.

c 1000 ælfric Hom. I. 38 An engel bodade þam hyrdum þæs heofonlican cyninges acennednysse. 10.. ælfric Gen. vi. 14 Wyrc þe nu ænne arc. a 1175 Cott. Hom. 223 He ȝeworhte of þane ribbe ana wifman. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 93 Eontas walden areran ane buruh and anne stepel. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 31 Ðo cam on angel of heuene to hem, and stod bisides hem. c 1200 Ormin 3364 Ȝe shulenn finndenn ænne child. c 1200 Moral Ode 348 (Trin.) Þurh one godelease wude to one bare felde. c 1205 Lay. 10524 Ich æm ennes cnihtes sune [c 1275 on eorles sone]. a 1250 Owl & Night. 14 In one hurne of one breche. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 9 Allas! I leste hyr in on erbere! c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 567 Of on myracule now I chulle ȝow tell. a 1425 Cursor M. 11551 (Trin.) He made oon ordinaunce in hiȝe. 1514 Pace in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. I. 111 My sayde lorde was oon faytheful man. 1552 Lyndesay Monarche 3961 Wes neuer sene sic one multytude.

    † 26. a. One (like other numerals) was formerly used with superlatives, as ‘one the fairest toun’ = ‘a town, the fairest one’, ‘the one fairest town’.

c 1000 ælfric Exod. xxxii. 21 Þis folc..hæfþ ᵹeworht ane þa mæstan synne and gode þa laþustan. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 272 On þe fairest toun þat was in his pouste. c 1386 Chaucer Frankl. T. 6 She was oon the faireste vnder sonne. 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas viii. xxvi. (1588) 18 Which through Affrik was one y⊇ best knight. c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. iii. (1885) 114 Yet dwellyn thai in on the most fertile reaume of the worlde. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. i. vi. 165 He is one The truest manner'd. 1613 ― Hen. VIII ii. iv. 48 Ferdinand My Father,..was reckon'd one The wisest Prince, that there had reign'd.

    † b. of one, of ane, after a superlative or its equivalent, = ‘of all’; after a positive = of special excellence, specially. Sc. Obs. (Cf. ON. einna mestr greatest of ones, i.e. of all.)

1375 Barbour Bruce iv. 74 The starkest man of ane. Ibid. v. 527 He that he trowit mast of ane. c 1470 Henryson Bludy Serk 18 A fowll gyane of ane. c 1475 Rauf Coilȝear 576 In ane Rob him arrayit, richest of ane. 14.. Tale of Five Beasts 312 in Laing Anc. Poet. Scotl., The riallest of one. 1513 Douglas æneis xi. vi. 100 The gret Agamemnon,..cheif ledar of on. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scotl. l. 35587 Of Norrowa ane grit nobill of one. Ibid. l. 35799 Ane fair castell of one. 1552 Lyndesay Monarche 1627 Nemrod..Quhilk wes the Principall man of one.

    † 27. a. As predicate or complement following n. or pron.: = Alone (L. solus). Obs.
    Subseq. strengthened by all, and now written in combination with it alone. Often extended to two or more: ‘he and she were one’ i.e. alone.

Beowulf 1082 Nemne feaum anum. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 178 ᵹif of þære wambe anre þa yfelan wætan cumen. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 111 Þu ane ne brukest naut þinra welena. c 1205 Lay. 23880 Þa kinges tweien ane þer wuneden. a 1225 Ancr. R. 92 Ȝif heo nis muchel one. Ibid. 160 Þene Louerd of heouene, þet halt up al þene world mid his ones [v.r. anres] mihte. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 9448 Þere bigan a niwe bataile al vpe þe king one. a 1300 E.E. Psalter l. 6 To þe an sinned I mare. c 1350 Will. Palerne 1415 Non knew here cunseile but þei þre one. 1388 Wyclif Isa. li. 2 Y clepide hym oon. 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utop. Meter 4 verses 2 b, I one of all other..Haue shaped for man a philosophicall citie.

    † b. Single, unmarried. Obs.

c 1386 Chaucer Wife's Prol. 66 Men may conseille a womman to been oon, Bot conseillyng is nat comandement.

    † c. Esp. after leave, let: cf. let alone. Obs.

c 1000 Ags. Gosp. John xvi. 32 Ðæt ᵹe forlæton me anne, and ic ne eom ana. a 1300 Cursor M. 14099 (Cott.), I am left an [Trin. one] to serue yow. 13.. Guy Warw. (A.) 525 Þe leches gon and lete Gij one. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2118 Goude syr Gawayn, let þe gome one.

    † d. After pronouns, almost = self, selves. Hence, after the analogy of my-, thy-self, our-, your-selves, northern writers used mine, thine, our, your, ane, (midl. one). Cf. mod.Sc. my'lane, our'lanes, and see alone, lone. Obs.

c 1200 Ormin 1079 Whann he shollde ganngenn inn..aȝȝ him sellf himm ane. a 1225 Juliana 31 As ha þrinne wes i þeosternesse hire ane. a 1300 Cursor M. 630 (Cott.) Of þat rib he mad woman, Til adam þat was first his an [so Gött.; Trin. his oon, Fairf. al-ane]. Ibid. 2021 (Cott.) Drunken on slepe lai bi him an [so Gött.; Fairf. bi his ane, Trin. bi his one]. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 3109 Þe body..harder þan þe saul by it ane. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1230 Now ȝe ar here, I-wysse, and we bot oure one. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. ix. 54 As I wente bi a wode walkyng myn one. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints iii. (Andreas) 979 We sal nocht be ws ane twa. c 1440 Gesta Rom. i. lxix. 312 Whenne þat he myȝt fynde hire by hire oone. a 1450 Le Morte Arth. 315 Whan they come by them one two. 1460 J. Capgrave Chron. 162 Thei to went into a chambir al be her one.

    † 28. In this sense one passed into an adverb: Alone, only. Obs. (In early quots. it is often difficult to say whether it is adv. or adj.)

c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 129 Naut ane under his hond ac under his fet. a 1225 Ancr. R. 64 Al þe leor schal ulowen o teares,..vor þe eie sihðe one. c 1320 Cast. Love 1050 Alle þing I seo, and alle þing Ich wot; But one þi þouȝt no þing I not. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 2495 Of noþyng certis doþ(?) þay drede; bot of liflode one. a 1450 Le Morte Arth. 3111 Mordred..Callyd hys folke, And sayd to hem One, ‘Releve yow, for crosse on Rode’. 1541 R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. E ij b, Wherof is the forheade comsed? Answere. One of the skynne & musculous flesshe.

    VIII. Phrases.
    29. a. one and all, every one individually and jointly.

c 1375 Cursor M. 2907 (Fairf.) Þaire welþe ham sloghe baþ an and al [Trin. oon and alle]. 13.. Ibid. 28036 (Cott. Galba), I say noght þis by ane ne all. 1513 [see all A 12 c]. 1647 Ward Simp. Cobler 50 He hath sounded an alarm to all the susque deques, pell-mels, one and alls, now harrasing sundry parts of Christendome. 1877 Tyndall in Daily News 2 Oct. 2/5 Towards this great end it behoves us one and all to work.

    † b. one or other: ? whether viewed one way or another, anyhow, altogether. Obs.

1704 Cibber Careless Husb. v. (1705) 66, I declare 'twas a Design, one or other—the best Carry'd on, that ever I knew in my life. 1775 S. J. Pratt Liberal Opin. Sect. viii. (1783) I. 24 This it is which makes him [the dog], one or another, the most entertaining animal that ever crossed the Atlantic. 1796 F. Burney Camilla i. ii, Indiana has one or other the prettiest face I ever saw.

    c. one another: see 19. one and one, one by one: see 16 b. all one: see alone; also all adv. 5 b.
    30. With following adverb. a. one down: one point behind one's opponent in a game; inferior in one respect; disadvantaged; also (with hyphen) attrib. or as adj. Hence one-downmanship, the art or practice of being ‘one down’; one-downness, the fact or state of being ‘one down’. Cf. sense 30 c below.

1907 [see down adv. 14 b]. 1952 S. Potter One-Upmanship ii. ii. 32 To increase the one-downness, bring in the washing-the-hands gambit immediately after touching hands with Patient. 1961 Times 8 Mar. 17 (heading) Handy guide to art of onedownmanship. Ibid. 22 Mar. 16/3 It is the Negroes who are educated, who ‘talk posh’, who go to university; the native English who are one-down, with less money and less culture. 1964 M. Argyle Psychol. & Social Probl. iii. 36 Stephen Potter has given an amusing list of techniques for making others feel ‘one-down’, together with counterploys for dealing with such methods when used by others. 1967 Punch 4 Oct. 514/3 If he were to check his facts would he not find that on the contrary the majority of Fleet Street was indulging in a form of one-down-manship towards the British public? 1976 N. Postman Crazy Talk 44 He will naturally be one-down in the situation, a ‘child’ to the government agent's ‘adult’.

    b. one off: a single example of a manufactured product; something not repeated; a prototype. Freq. (with hyphen) attrib. or as adj. Also transf. and fig. Cf. off adv. 13, once-off adj. s.v. once adv. B. 7 b.

1934 Proc. Inst. Brit. Foundrymen XXVI. 552 A splendid one-off pattern can be swept up in very little time. 1935 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XXXIX. 41 One off per machine does not give us much opportunity for reducing production costs. 1947 Ibid. LI. 308/1 With the lofting technique it is possible to cut down the time required to produce a prototype aircraft for..it is possible to reproduce full-scale layouts directly on to the material to be worked..thus cutting out what was originally the factor which absorbed the most production time in the freehand manufacture of ‘one offs’. 1954 Archit. Rev. CXVI. 411/2 Hills built the first part of Cheshunt as a ‘one off’ job, with no guarantees of further business, though of course it was intended to be the first of a line. 1955 Ibid. CXVII. 226/2 None of the motor-cars illustrated is a standardized mass-produced model; all are expensive, specialized, handicraft one-offs which can justly be compared to the Parthenon because, like it, they are unique works of handmade art. 1958 Listener 25 Sept. 458/2 Both the estates of the speculative ‘rush’ builders and the architectural one-offs are unable to keep pace with the demand [for new houses]. 1961 Times 3 Oct. (Computer Suppl.) p. v/3 The centres are..even able to do a ‘one-off’ job, such as eliminating a production bottle⁓neck, very cheaply. 1965 R. B. Oram Cargo Handling iv. 70 Tailor made, or ‘one-off’, machines, may give great satisfaction. 1968 Sunday Times 29 Sept. 25 Jenkins has already made a crude stab at a wealth tax with his special charge on investment incomes... But this was a one-off effort. 1970 Times 28 Mar. 21 All these relationships involve money and are on a continuing basis rather than a one-off purchase. 1973 Daily Tel. 22 Oct. 12/4 When Barry Took's Grub Street (BBC-2) was screened as a one-off..I rashly predicted that it could make a series. 1974 F. Warner Meeting Ends ii. i. 35 But we find it much harder to shake a man off afterwards, and anyway, I don't like those ‘one off’ dates. I need companionship, an outing, warmth. 1976 Scottish Rev. Spring 33 For the most part they could only produce an endless stream of one-off building prototypes. 1977 Hot Car Oct. 97/1 There seems to be a good deal of misunderstanding about the way the Type Approval Regulations apply to ‘one-offs’ or cars built by private individuals.

    c. one up: scoring one point more than an opponent; ahead of another person; (fig.) maintaining a psychological advantage; also (with hyphen) attrib. or as adj. Hence one-ˈupmanship, the art or practice of being ‘one up’; so one-up v. trans., to do better than (someone); one-upman, an exponent of one-upmanship; one-upness, -uppance, the fact or state of being ‘one up’.

1919 [see up adv.2 13 e]. 1924 Wodehouse Leave it to Psmith i. 30 Which would make her pretty chirpy, as well as putting you one up. 1929 J. B. Priestley Good Companions ii. vii. 449 He can give old Omar himself points in not believing in anything, for he has cut out the book of verse, most of the loaf, and the Houri stuff, and just sticks to the jug, though he has added a clay pipe and is one up on Omar there. 1952 S. Potter (title) One-upmanship. Ibid. i. ii. 26 The establishment of one-up relations between doctor and doctor and doctor and patient and vice versa. Ibid. v. 64 The basic gambit is of course the achievement of the state of one-upness on the rest of the public. 1957 Economist 26 Oct. 295/1 This piece of applied relativity..may go down in the annals of international one-upmanship as the sputnik ploy. 1959 N. N. Holland First Mod. Comedies 38 This was a perhaps pardonable attempt to retain ‘one-upness’ in the large eyes of a rather nasty little genius. 1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 6 Nov. 650/4 They are one-upmen, seen from the receiving end, and they give Mr. Gibb endless opportunities for recording sillier aspects of the contemporary social scene. 1960 News Chron. 14 Apr. 3/1 Will Granada deny there was an element of one-upness in its satisfaction? 1961 S. Price Just for Record v. 37 Stephen Potter was a square in nappies compared to these one-up graduates. 1963 Canada Month Mar. 10/1 John Wintermeyer..one-upped the socialists by endorsing the Saskatchewan plan. 1964 ‘C. E. Maine’ Never let Up xvii. 172 It's a kind of one-upmanship. You thought you were smart, but he had to prove that he was even smarter. 1966 Listener 27 Oct. 622/1 Virginia Woolf can still show herself to be one up, in her literary judgements, on most current criticism. 1967 Maclean's Mag. Oct. 46 Another trap the psychiatrist must strive to avoid is the mistake of being one-up. The psychiatrist is in the perfect position to be the one-up man. 1969 D. S. Davis Where Dark Streets Go (1970) xviii. 162 You one-upped us there, Father. We came dead-end in a housing development. 1970 ‘Jenner’ & Segal Men & Marriage ii. 45 Marrying a doctor still gives a girl a bit of one-uppance amongst the neighbours. 1973 J. Wainwright Touch of Malice 87 Smithson's one-up-man-ship ploy of keeping a senior police officer waiting. 1975 Times 14 Mar. 14/5 There are one-upmanship entries. A power cruiser ‘built for royalty’ is offered. 1976 Listener 28 Oct. 544/4 The objects of human vituperation..seem to be pretty well limited to people who are one up on us, and other people's pleasures. 1977 Time 24 Jan. 37/1 His sweet, sporting spirit as he sits trying to absorb his defeat while graciously applauding a trickster's win is something with which any weekend athlete who has been one-upped by an allegedly friendly opponent can identify.

    31. Misc. phrases. a. one and the same: used as a more emphatic form of ‘the same’. Cf. L. unus et idem.

1869 Bradshaw's Railway Manual XXI. 365 This modification has..the effect of comprising in one and the same network the two lines from Paris to Lyons. 1941 H. L. Mencken Newspaper Days (1942) xvi. 245 His father had been, at one and the same time, a Confederate general, a French nobleman, and a graduate of both Oxford and Cambridge. 1960 C. P. Snow Affair v. xxxix. 364 You'd obviously got to raise the dust about Nightingale and give them an escape-route at one and the same damned time. 1973 D. Aaron Unwritten War iv. xi. 167 Abolitionism or Black Republicanism, to the South Carolinian, one and the same thing. 1976 G. Butler Vesey Inheritance iv. 117, I wonder..whether the King and Mr Koenig could be one and the same person?

    b. one man, one vote: a slogan advocating that every adult man (or adult person) should have a vote; also formerly, that each voter should have only one vote; also attrib.

1884 A. Paul Hist. of Reform ii. 19 ‘One man, one vote’, a cry which may have had a novel sound to some in 1883 was one of Cartwright's political principles. 1889 W. E. Gladstone in Times 13 June 7/2 The important measure which is briefly designated under the well-known phrase—one man, one vote. 1891 Spectator 7 Mar. 330/1 Mr. Stansfeld brought forward his resolution for an amendment of the registration law, and the adoption of the principle of ‘one man one vote’. 1907 H. Lawson in Murdoch & Drake-Brockman Austral. Short Stories (1951) 73 The One-Man-One-Vote Bill was passed. 1964 Punch 15 July 74/3 To ensure that one-man-one-vote democracy is swiftly introduced. 1971 ‘G. Black’ Time for Pirates ii. 32 The government..had declared martial law, suspending the constitution... ‘So much for one man, one vote,’ Russell said. 1975 D. Bagley Snow Tiger xiii. 115 Not so democratic as to be a one man, one vote system.

    c. one hand for oneself and one for the ship: a nautical proverb referring to the practice of holding on to a rope, etc., with one hand while working with the other hand; also in similar phrases (see quots.).

1799 Port Folio (Philadelphia) 1812 VII. 130 Always keep one hand for the owners, and one for yourself. 1902 B. Lubbock Round the Horn 58 The old rule on a yard is, ‘one hand for yourself and one for the ship’, which means, hold on with one hand and work with the other. 1924 R. Clements Gipsy of Horn iii. 50 One hand for yourself and one for the owners. 1938 F. A. Worsley First Voy. in Square-Rigged Ship 119 One hand for the Queen and one for yerself. 1968 L. Morton Long Wake i. 10, I did not know then the old adage ‘one hand for oneself and one hand for the company’.

    d. one and only: one's sweetheart; one's only child or love; also transf. Also (with hyphens) as attrib. phr., unique, unrepeatable.

1906 E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands i. 4 She's er little boshter..'n' I'm 'er one 'n' only. 1933 J. D. Carr Mad Hatter Mystery iv. 64 He'd met some girl at a dance who was the absolute One and Only. 1961 Times 13 May 11/3 Artur Schnabel thought that such a one-and-only performance was obtainable. 1966 Harper's Bazaar Sept. 64 A coat so versatile it could be the treasured one-and-only in your life. 1967 I. Hamilton Man with Brown Paper Face vi. 83 Daddy wasn't too happy about his one-and-only's choice of companion. 1967 J. Wainwright Worms must Wait lxxvii. 201 He had the truncheon ready for what he knew was going to be a one-and-only chance. 1975 J. McClure Snake xii. 159 She'd been with the family since their one-and-only was five. 1977 J. van de Wetering Japanese Corpse (1978) xvii. 152 She had been unwilling to admit that she had ever slept with other men. Kikuji Nagai had been her one and only.

    e. one for the (end) book: a notable, extraordinary, or incredible event, action, saying, etc. U.S. colloq.

1922 H. C. Witwer Fighting Blood (1923) 170 Gents, this was one for the book! 1946 Amer. Speech XXI. 69/1 When a friend approaches with an anecdote which is strange or incredible, he often prefaces it with the remark, ‘Here's one for the book’. Ibid., At racetracks where parimutuel betting machines are not used..it was customary for bookmakers to line up in a designated area... If a bettor asked unusually high odds, the bookie might comment, ‘Here's one for the end book’, implying that no one but a green newcomer..would accept those odds. 1955 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. xxiv. 179 There is always someone with one for the end book, or a story that is hard to believe.

    f. (just) one of those things: something inevitable or inexplicable; a fact or happening that one cannot do anything about. colloq.

1934 J. O'Hara Appointment in Samarra i. 25 No, it was just one of those things. 1935 C. Porter (song-title) Just one of those things. 1935 Time 4 Mar. 17/3 Said Comedian Durante: ‘Aw, it's just one of those things.’ 1936 R. Lehmann Weather in Streets vii. 248 Oh, well... It can't be helped. It's just one of those things. 1941 C. Morgan Empty Room i. 46 ‘What is it, Carey?’ She smiled. ‘Nothing. One of those things.’ 1951 ‘J. Wyndham’ Day of Triffids ii. 28 My inability to make any column of figures reach the same total twice caused me to be something of a mystery as well as a disappointment to him [sc. my father]. Still, there it was: just one of those things. 1955 A. Huxley Let. 16 Dec. (1969) 778 Her daughter is going to have a baby—husband twenty-one and still at college, daughter supporting the household for the moment. Which is one of those things. 1971 Daily Tel. 19 Nov. 3/1, I know Mr Butler is a bit choked about it, but it's just one of those things. 1974 M. Babson Stalking Lamb xviii. 136 The price was too high..to be shrugged off as ‘just one of those things’.

    g. one-of-a-kind attrib. phr., (a) of only one kind; (b) unique.

1961 Times 25 Apr. 4/2 The one-of-a-kind series for racing catamarans organized last year. 1963 New Yorker 1 June 72 Among the one-of-a-kind mannerly materials are Paisley cotton prints. 1973 Publishers Weekly 23 July 66/3 A one-of-a-kind book that merits a place on the political science shelf. 1975 New Yorker 21 Apr. 17/3 Children of Paradise (1945)—A one-of-a-kind film. 1977 Rolling Stone 24 Mar. 48/4 Fleetwood Mac had this one-of-a-kind charm. They were gregarious, charming and cheeky onstage. Very cheeky.

    32. After a prep. † a. after one: after one and the same fashion, in the same way. Obs.

c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 341 His breed, his Ale was alweys after oon. ― Knt.'s T. 923 That lord hath litel of discrecion That..weyeth pride and humblesse after oon.

    b. at one, (atoon, aton): see at one adv. phr. † c. by one: one by one; one at a time. Obs.

1607 Markham Caval. i. (1617) 35 By turning Mares single, and by one vnto the Horse.

    d. in one: (a) In or into one place, company, or mass; together.

a 1225 Leg. Kath. 1524 Wit beoð ifestnet & iteiet in an. a 1300 E.E. Psalter xxxiv. 15 Ogain me þai fained and come in ane. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 149 Whan tuo hertes falle in on. 1526 Tindale John xi. 51 He shulde gadder to gedder in won the children of God. 1581 Savile Tacitus (1604) 31 Legions being assembled in one. 1875 J. H. Newman in Keble Occ. Papers (1877) p. xiv, Gathered up in one.

    (b) In unison, agreement, or harmony.

a 1425 Cursor M. 20136 (Trin.) Boþe her willes was in one. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xxxviii. (Percy Soc.) 199 We answered bothe our hertes were in one. 1589 Triumphs Love & Fortune in Hazl. Dodsley VI. 148 When the higher powers is in one, Men upon earth will fly contention. 1600 W. Watson Decacordon (1602) 139 Why doth not your words and deedes agree in one? 1714 tr. à Kempis' Chr. Exerc. iv. 233 Voices all in one agree.

    † (c) In one course; straight on, continuously, without ceasing; = anon 3. Obs.

a 1250 Owl & Night. 356 Ȝif me hit halt evre forth in on. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 913 His herte hadde compassion Of wommen for they wepen euere in oon. ― Shipman's T. 27 A Monk..That euere in oon was comynge to that place. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 29 Evere in on Sche clepede upon Demephon. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. (E.E.T.S.) 2792 Aȝeyn the qwene he ȝode and stode, And loked on hir euere in on.

    † (d) In the same state or condition. Obs.

a 1300 Cursor M. 1429 (Cott.) Euer stod þai still in an, Wit-outen wax, wit-outen wain. Ibid. 4278 (Cott.) Ai sco fand ioseph in ane.

    † (e) In one action; at once. Obs.

1622 Bacon Hist. Hen. VII 48 Whereby he should in one both generally abroad veil over his ambition and win the reputation of just proceedings.

    (f) Combined in one; in combination.

1796 Bentham Prot. agst. Law Taxes (1816) 11 It is robbery, enslavement, insult, homicide, all in one. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 441 The same persons..are husbandmen, tradesmen, warriors, all in one.

    (g) At one stroke or attempt; esp. to get it in one: to succeed at the first attempt. Cf. sense (e), and hole in one s.v. hole n. 4 a. colloq.

1938 J. Parish St. Michael comes to Shepherd's Bush 11 As a matter of fact, that's just what I am. You've got there in one. 1942 ‘A. Bridge’ Frontier Passage vi. 91 ‘In fact, our old friend the Hidden Hand in Biarritz runs the sabotage as well as the rest—that the idea?’ Crampaun enquired. ‘Got it in one!’ 1972 W. Garner Ditto, Brother Rat! xv. 106 Got it in one, old son. 1975 ‘C. Aird’ Slight Mourning iii. 26 ‘What we are checking on is whether someone tried to kill him...’ ‘Got it in one, Sloan.’

    e. into one: = in one (a).

1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 61 To ioyne or bring into one. 1864 J. H. Newman Apol. 180, I had collected into one all the strong things.

    † f. on one (on-oon, onan, onon): = anon.
    33. ones, the old advb. genitive: see once, ones.
    IX. Combinations.
    34. a. Attributive phrases consisting of one with a substantive (= ‘consisting of, having, containing, costing, lasting, measuring, characterized by, dealing with, or relating to one{ddd}’); these may be formed at pleasure, and are unlimited in number; such are one-book, one-child, one-class, one-clause, one-colour, one-crop, one-culture, one-day, one-deck, one-digit, one-dollar, one-drink, one-electron, one-family, one-foot, one-inch, one-level, one-light, one-line, one-member, one-minute, one-parent, one-particle, one-party, one-person, one-piece, one-pound, one-rail, one-reel, one-room, one-sex, one-star, one-step, one-storey (also one-story), one-string, one-tap, one-term, one-volume, one-word, one-year, etc. b. Other phrases used attrib., as one-by-one, one-o'clock. c. Compound adjectives formed by prefixing such phrases as those in sense a. to simple adjs., as one-year-old. d. Parasynthetic formations on such phrases as those in sense a. by adding -ed (also unlimited in number) as one-ended, one-flowered, one-footed, one-handled, one-hoofed, one-horned (in quot. a 1225 as n. = unicorn), one-leafed, one-leaved, one-membered, one-minded, one-petaled, one-pointed (so one-pointedness), one-roomed, one-seeded, one-sepaled, one-storied, one-talented, one-toed, one-volumed, one-windowed, one-winged, one-worded, etc. e. Parasynthetic formations in -er (see -er¹ 1), as one-decker, one-pounder, one-rater, one-roomer.

1874 J. D. Heath Croquet Player 31 Varieties of stroke..divisible into ‘*One-ball’ or roquet-strokes, in which only one ball is moved, and ‘Two-ball’ or croquet-strokes.

1879 tr. Haeckel's Evol. Man I. Pref. 21 Our *one-celled Amœba-ancestors of the Laurentian period.

1905 Daily Chron. 18 Nov. 6/3 It is desired to secure such a reform in the law as will bring *one-child cases within the sphere of inspection. 1971 J. Z. Young Introd. Study Man xxiv. 326 The effect has been an increase of 2 per cent in one-child families.

1908 Daily Chron. 21 Nov. 9/3 They are *one-class, one-price machines. 1909 Westm. Gaz. 21 Oct. 1/3 For short-distance travelling Sir Albert is in favour of one-class carriages. 1931 Times 5 Nov. 8/3 The sooner the ‘one class’ party is abolished,..the better for the nation and Empire. 1960 Willmott & Young Family & Class in London Suburb viii. 97 Working Men's Clubs and other one-class organizations. 1973 A. Behrend Samarai Affair ii. 24 A very small one-class passenger liner.

1898 Daily News 28 July 3/1 The Government are being pressed to introduce a *one-clause Bill. 1965 Language XLI. 74 There are many one-clause sentences.

1946 Happy Landings (Air Ministry) July 11/3 We recall..young pilots, chests aflame with so many medals that it made the Aurora Borealis look like a *one-colour miniature.

1842 Aiton Domest. Econ. (1857) 152 The butter of a *one-cow dairy is seldom good.

1942 E. Afr. Ann. 1941–2 85/2 Kenya..has suffered from *one-crop farming. 1970 Guardian 10 Apr. 3/5 The Prime Minister, Dr Fidel Castro, [is] bent on diversifying what has been a one-crop economy based on sugar.

1962 Times 10 May 17/3, I decided to be a *one-culture man to make reading more enjoyable.

1763 Wesley Wks. (1872) III. 142, I went in the *one-day machine to Bath. 1974 News & Press (Darlington, S. Carolina) 25 Apr. 7/6 A one-day golf tournament..will be held at the Tifton Golf Club in Darlington. 1975 Cricketer May 4/1 MCC won both their one-day matches in Hong Kong. 1977 Times 25 Aug. 2/7 It will not be a couple of one-day strikes. It will be a case of weeks and maybe months, but we will force the rise.

1906 Daily Chron. 23 Feb. 2/2 They started with the old style *one-deck buses. 1935 H. Straumann Newspaper Headlines 150 They..occur in second decks or in one-deck crossheads.

1962 Gloss. Terms Automatic Data Processing (B.S.I.) 60 *One-digit adder, a logic element with two outputs and two inputs to which may be applied signals representing a digit of a number and a single addend or carry digit. One output signal represents a digit of the sum, the other represents a digit to be carried forward. 1966 Ogilvy & Anderson Excursions in Number Theory 156 What we have just said means that q(n) = x - 1 (not x, because in the first decade none of the one-digit numbers 2, 4, 8 qualify).

1896 H. Porter in Century Mag. Nov. 28 A *one-dollar treasury note.

1906 Westm. Gaz. 13 Aug. 5/1 Most of them are ‘*one-drink’ people, although they may have ‘another’. 1909 J. Ware Passing Eng. 188/2 One drink house.., where only one serving is permitted. If the customer desire a second helping, he has to take a walk ‘round the houses’ after the first.

1955 H. B. G. Casimir in W. Pauli Niels Bohr 119, n(ε0) is the density of *one-electron states per energy-interval in the neighbourhood of this maximum energy. 1970 W. G. Woodgate Elem. Atomic Struct. i. 1 Bohr's semi-classical theory was not general enough to describe more than the gross features of the simplest one-electron atom.

1553 Udall tr. Geminus' Anat. A ij/1 The blynde gutte, whiche we call in Englysh, the *one-ended gutte.

1968 N.Y. City (Michelin Tire Corp.) 47 There are 3000 *one-family dwellings in Manhattan. 1972 Country Life 28 Dec. 1781/1 They were not originally one-family houses; rather was it a case of a family a floor.

1877 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 243 A *one-foot vein of good ore.

c 1440 Promp. Parv. 363/1 *O fotyd beest (P. or one foted best).

1922 Joyce Ulysses 146 Settle down on their striped petticoats, peering up at the statue of the *onehandled adulterer. Ibid. 564 Steel shark stone onehandled Nelson.

a 1598 Ld. Burleigh Adv. to Eliz. in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) II. 282 A people all *one-hearted in religion.

1615 Chapman Odyss. xv. 63 See in chariot inclosed Their *one-hoof'd horse.

a 1225 St. Marher. 7 Leose..mi meoke mildscipe of þe *anhurnde hornes. 1849 Sk. Nat. Hist., Mammalia III. 19 Pliny..mentions the one-horned rhinoceros.

1865 Trollope Belton Est. i. 10 Low, four-wheeled, *one-horsed little phaeton.

1876 Swinburne Erechtheus (ed. 2) 127 Violets *one-hued with her hair.

1952 A. G. L. Hellyer Sanders' Encycl. Gardening (ed. 22) 463 Sophronitis... Pseudo-bulbs usually small, *one-leafed, stout, with one or few terminal flowers.

1875 Amer. Naturalist IX. 17 The singular *one-leaved ash, Fraxinus anomala. 1946 Dylan Thomas Deaths & Entrances 29 Under the one leaved trees ran a scarecrow of snow. 1972 Hilliers' Man. Trees & Shrubs 507 [pinus cembroides] monophylla... ‘One-leaved Nut Pine’. An unusual variety in which the..leaves occur singly.

1957 N. Frye Anat. Crit. 71 The criticism of literature can hardly be a simple or *one-level activity.

1908 A. L. Frothingham Monuments Christian Rome ii. 192 The lower story or two had a *one-light opening. 1945 G. B. Grundy 55 Yrs. at Oxf. 148 The one-light system, i.e. shading from an imaginary perpendicular light.

1655 Marquis of Worcester Cent. Inv. Index p. i, An *one-line Cypher. 1901 G. B. Shaw Admirable Bashville Pref. 87, I like the melodious sing-song, the clear simple one-line and two-line sayings. 1952 M. Richert Reconstr. Carmelite Missal iii. 67 A small (one-line) blue, tan, and gold letter. 1965 B. Mates Elem. Logic vii. 110 A derivation can begin with a tautology, as in the following one-line derivation. 1965 Hughes & Londey Elem. Formal Logic xxix. 218 We shall usually write one-line proofs in this abbreviated form.

1884 E. W. Hamilton Diary 29 Oct. (1972) II. 720 The Tory scheme leans to the *one-member principle. 1924 O. Jespersen Philos. Gram. 306 An old-fashioned grammarian will feel a certain repugnance to this theory of one-member sentences. 1963 J. Lyons Structural Semantics ii. 22 Some of the distributional classes will, of course, be one-member classes; but the majority will not. 1967 D. H. Monro Empiricism & Ethics xvi. 201 It is not irrational to treat an individual as a one-member class.

1884 E. W. Hamilton Diary 25 July (1972) II. 659 Mr. G...rather favours *one-membered constituencies.

1877 A. Dobson Proverbs in Porcelain 99 We, bound with him in common care, *One-minded, celibate. 1941 L. MacNeice Poetry of Yeats x. 218 If Lawrence is..an eclectic, he is..a one-minded one.

1860 Pusey Min. Proph. 578 He pictures the *one-mindedness of the Church.

1883 E. P. Roe in Harper's Mag. Dec. 46/1 The old-fashioned *one-o'clock dinner.

1969 Times 7 Nov. 15/7 A committee to consider the problems of *one-parent families in society. 1974 Evening News (Edinburgh) 12 Apr. 7/5 An Easter holiday play scheme for children from some of Edinburgh's one-parent families ended today on the slopes of Arthur's Seat. 1976 Times 21 May 1/6 That benefit..is paid to fewer than half the one-parent families in Britain.

1955 W. Pauli Niels Bohr 32 This method is essentially based on the assumption that the theory for free particles (without interactions) holds for the so-called *one particle states.

1937 H. Tingsten Political Behavior v. 216 In certain American so-called *one party states one can hardly speak of an election campaign. 1950 ‘G. Orwell’ Shooting an Elephant 156 The appearance of one-party régimes based on police terrorism, faked plebiscites, etc. 1964 T. B. Bottomore Elites & Society v. 95 The possible or probable concomitants of this kind of one-party rule, dictatorship and loss of personal liberty, persecution and widespread suffering. 1971 Guardian 11 Dec. 10/4 India..was a benign one-party state. 1975 Times 11 Apr. 6/5 Independent observers had little doubt that this would be the beginning of a one-party system in Portugal.

1956 J. M. Mogey Family & Neighbourhood 14 *One-person households. 1966 J. Tunstall Old & Alone xiv. 281 ‘Under-occupation’ defined as one-person household in 4+ rooms or two-person household in 5+ rooms. 1977 G. Scott Hot Pursuit ii. 16 It's a one-person flat.

1811 *One-pointed [see blue grass 2]. 1958 Listener 11 Sept. 374/2 They receive an incredibly tough kind of training, which..produces 75 per cent. completely one-pointed fanatics. 1960 J. Hewitt Yoga xi. 153 If the mind takes one thought and holds it, one-pointed and still, time is erased, it ceases—psychologically—to exist.

1923 Contemp. Rev. Feb. 223 He has an innate tendency to ‘*onepointedness’— as it is sometimes called—to concentration on unity. 1941 A. Huxley Grey Eminence v. 120 Complete consistency comes only with complete one-pointedness, complete absorption in ultimate reality. 1960 J. Hewitt Yoga ix. 135 In..another method to achieve withdrawal and onepointedness, the meditator imagines that he has a diamond in each ear, [etc.].

1896 Rudder VII. 245/1 Next year will see a *one-rater craze; or, correctly speaking, an epidemic of 20-foot racing-length yachts.

1920 I. P. Gore in Stage Year Bk. 53 Such tit-bits as..a *one-reel comedy founded on the rollicking antics of a malignant tumour. 1961 Getlein & Gardiner Movies, Morals & Art iv. 51 The Great Train Robbery is a one-reel film.

1897 Daily News 1 Nov. 5/2 There are 386,000 persons in London who are *one-room dwellers. 1934 Archit. Rev. LXXV. 41 (heading) The one-room flat. 1972 C. Weston Poor, Poor Ophelia (1973) vi. 30 A hippie joint, you think? Anyhow, a bunch of one-room pads.

1854 H. Miller Sch. & Schm. (1858) 355 The *one-roomed cottage which I shared with its three other inmates.

1924 D. H. Lawrence Let. 16 May (1962) II. 789 There's a two-room cabin where Mabel can come when she likes, and a *one-roomer for Brett.

1628 Gaule Pract. The. Panegyr. 64 Oh that I were able, or worthy to open but his *one-Sealed Booke.

1895 Outing (U.S.) XXVI. 422/2 He did not move from his place..in the *one-seated vehicle.

1796 W. Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) I. 69 Monosperma, *one-seeded. 1832 Veg. Subst. Food 37 One-seeded Wheat, or St. Peter's corn—Triticum monococcum. 1846 D. J. Browne Trees Amer. 215 Gleditschia monosperma, the One-seeded Gleditschia. 1964 E. J. H. Corner Life of Plants xii. 208 Some normally one-seeded fruit, as acorns, avocado, palm fruits, or grass ‘seed’, will show considerable difference in the size of the true seed.

1888 G. Allen in Gd. Words 383 *One-seed-leaved plants.

1949 M. Mead Male & Female xviii. 368 A *one-sex world would be an imperfect world. 1966 P. Willmott Adolescent Boys E. London vii. 128 Younger boys more often belong to one-sex clubs.

1908 Daily Chron. 4 Nov. 3/3 In the meadows we did roam; And in the *one-star night returned Together home. 1961 Guardian 24 Mar. 21/4 One-star restaurants, rather slightingly dismissed by M. Michelin as ‘a good restaurant for its class’. 1975 tr. Melchior's Sleeper Agent (1976) iii. 168 The French general..was scheduled to tap four officers for the Legion of Honor, two one-star generals and two bird colonels. 1977 ‘R. Rostand’ Killing in Rome i. 4 A small one-star hotel.

1964 D. B. Fry in D. Abercrombie et al. Daniel Jones 64 He answered correctly all the items involving a *one-step difference between A and B. 1964 English Studies XLV. 383 The difference between a normal one-step process, beginning with Scandinavian forms and limited to names, and the multi-step process.

1833 B. Silliman Man. Sugar Cane 64 The bagasse houses at Demerara are high *one story buildings. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xiii. 29 Four lines of one-story plastered buildings. 1858 [see one-horse a. 2]. 1872 Howells Wedd. Journ. (1892) 226 The little one-story dwellings. 1970 J. Hansen Fadeout (1972) i. 3 The house was one-story, rambling, sided with cedar shakes.

1821 W. Wirt Let. 29 Aug. in J. P. Kennedy Mem. W. Wirt (1849) II. 132 It is a small, red, hip-roofed, *one-storied old house. 1861 in Willis & Clarke Cambridge (1886) III. 175 The lateral one-storied wing of the fa{cced}ade.

1938 Oxf. Compan. Mus. 591/1 The *one-string principle is also applied to the Tromba Marina. 1970 Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 8 Feb. 10/1 Occasionally from some nearby window you caught the strains of the [Chinese] one-string fiddle blending with the sing-song street cries of the vendors of lottery tickets. 1976 Ld. Home Way Wind Blows vii. 112 Some three hundred of them were gathered round, and he began to teach them, accompanied by a one-string banjo.

1701 Beverley Glory of Grace 47 They who have the most, are, but as the *One Talented Man.

1952 A. Cohen Phonemes of Eng. 29 These two sounds (*one-tap and fricative r) are in no way opposed.

1845 Congress. Globe 28th Congress 2 Sess. 122/2 The North..never had had any but *one-term presidents, democratic or federal. 1961 Y. Olsson On Syntax Eng. Verb ii. 34 A two-term sub-system commutable with the one-term sub-system. 1966 Philos. Rev. LXXV. 406 Plato confuses relations with one-term predicates.

1828 Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. I. 353 *One-toed Eft. Feet extremely thin and short, composed of one toe, without a claw.

1888 T. T. Wildridge Northumbria 124 The *one-tree canoe may be considered the boat of northern Europe.

1861 Illustr. Lond. News 17 Aug. 152/3 To visit the excesses..with the same stern and *one-voiced reprobation.

1862 Mrs. Gaskell Let. 30 Sept. (1966) 698, I am going to publish a *one-volume story in ‘All the Year Round’, where..it will occupy from ten to twelve numbers. 1961 R. B. Long Sentence & its Parts xix. 414 There is no possibility of doing it justice in a one-volume grammar. 1977 Listener 17 Nov. 651/2 The Times one-volume edition [of the Pentagon Papers].

1880 Geo. Eliot Let. 19 Apr. (1956) VII. 261, I prefer Muxon's *one-volumed edition of Wordsworth to any selection.

1909 Daily Chron. 26 July 1/1 Away it went over the cliff, that monstrous *one-winged bird.

1924 R. M. Ogden tr. Koffka's Growth of Mind v. 320 Single words have been spoken as *one-word sentences. 1956 ‘H. MacDiarmid’ Stony Limits 141 The great one-word metaphors of the Enneads. 1960 W. V. Quine Word & Object i. 10 ‘Red’ as a one-word sentence usually needs a question for its elicitation. 1963 F. T. Visser Hist. Syntax Eng. Lang. I. iv. 603 When a noun is the object of both a merged verb and a one-word verb.

1957 *One-worded [see many-worded adj. s.v. many a. 6 c].

    35. Special Combinations: one-bar a., of an electric fire: having only one heating element; one-base hit Baseball, a hit that enables the batter to reach the first base; also one-baser; one-book a., of an author: having written only one book, or only one good book; one-catch-all dial., a children's outdoor chasing game; ˈone-ˌcoloured a., of one colour, of uniform colour throughout; one-cross a., denoting a type of tin-plate (see quot. 1890); one-design a. Naut., designating a yacht built from a standard design, or a class of such ships which are almost identical; also absol. as n.; hence one-designer, such a yacht; one-dimensional a., having, or pertaining to, a single dimension; hence one-dimensionality; one-directional a., having, or pertaining to, a single direction; one-egg a., (a) characterized by a single egg; (b) = monozygotic a.; one-for-one a., denoting a situation, arrangement, etc., in which one thing corresponds to, or is issued or exchanged for, each of a set of things; ˈone-Goddite (humorous nonce-wd.), a monotheist; † ˈone-gotten a. Obs. = one-begotten, only-begotten; one-inch a., measuring, or done at a distance of, one inch; spec. of a map: having a scale of one inch to the mile; also ellipt. as n.; one-liner (chiefly U.S.), (a) a headline consisting of only one line of print; (b) a very short joke or witty remark; one-lunger, (a) a person with only one lung; (b) slang, an engine with a single cylinder; a vehicle or boat driven by such an engine; also attrib.; ˈone-ˌman a., (a) consisting of, exercised, managed, or done by, one man only; also in Comb.; (b) loving, obedient, or attached to one man only; one-man band, a man who plays several musical instruments simultaneously; also transf. and fig.; one-man show, a show, entertainment etc., consisting of, or done by, one man only; spec. an exhibition of the work of one artist; one-many a., applied to a correspondence or relation such that each member of one set is associated with or related to two or more members of a second set; one-night a., lasting, residing, or used for a single night; one-nighter, (a) a person who stays at a place for a single night; (b) orig. U.S. = one-night stand; one-night stand [stand n.¹ 2 e] orig. U.S., a single performance of a play, show, or the like at a particular place; esp. a performance given by a touring company, band, etc.; a town, theatre, etc., where such a performance or performances take place; also transf. and fig., spec. a casual sexual encounter; one-old-cat U.S., a form of baseball in which a batter runs to one base and home again, remaining as batter until the player who puts him out succeeds him; one-one, at Cambridge University, a degree in the first section of the first class; one-one a. = one-to-one adj. (see below); one-on-one a. (U.S. slang), designating or pertaining to a situation in which two opponents or the like come into conflict; one-over-one a., in Bridge, denoting a bid of one in a suit, made in response to a preceding bid of one in a suit; also ellipt. as n.; one-pair a. (in full, one pair of stairs), situated above one ‘pair’ or flight of stairs, i.e. on the first floor; † one-penny, name of some obsolete game; one-piece a., made or designed in a single piece; consisting of a single piece; esp. of clothing: comprising a single garment; one-pip Mil. slang (see quot. 1919); also one-pipper; one-place a. Logic, of an assertion, etc., in which only one thing is postulated or involved; one-plus-one a. Computers, applied to (the use of) an instruction that contains the address of an operand and that of the next instruction to be performed; one-pole a., (a) (see quot. 1892); (b) consisting of a single pole; (c) (see quot. 1940); one-pounder, (a) a gun that fires one-pound shells; (b) a one-pound note; one-reeler, a film lasting for one reel, usu. for ten minutes or less; one-ring circus, a small circus containing only one ring; also transf. and fig.; one-stop a. (orig. U.S.), denoting a shop or the like that can supply all a customer's needs within a particular range of goods or services; one-stress a., of a line of Old English verse, having only one stress; one-suiter U.S., a suitcase designed to hold one suit; one-tail a. Statistics = next; one-tailed a. Statistics, applied to a test that tests for deviation from the null hypothesis in one direction only; cf. two-tailed adj.; one-time a., (a) that was so at one time or formerly, ‘sometime’; (b) pertaining to a single occasion; done or used only once; = one-shot a.; one-time adv. (colloq. and dial.), (a) simultaneously, at the same time; (b) on one occasion, once; (c) at once, immediately; one-time cipher, system, etc., a cipher in which the cipher representation of the alphabet is changed at random for each letter of the message, generating a key as long as the message; one-time pad, a pad of keys for a one-time cipher each page of which is destroyed after being used once, so that each message is sent using a different key; one-to-many a. = one-many adj. (see above); one-to-one a., applied to a correspondence or relation such that each member of one set is associated with one member of a second set, and vice versa; also adv., as, or by means of, a one-to-one relation; one-track a., of a person's mind: that is concentrated on, or capable of, only one line of thought or action; obsessional; also transf.; one-trip a., of a bottle or other container: that is used only once; ˈone-ˈtwo, (a) name of a stroke in fencing (see quot.); so one-two-three; (b) Boxing, two punches in quick succession with alternate hands; (c) Assoc. Football, Hockey, etc., an interchange of the ball between two players; (d) also transf. and fig.; also attrib.; one-up, one-down a., designating a house consisting of one main room upstairs and one downstairs; one-valued a., having one value (for each component); chiefly Math., = single-valued a.; one-while, a. or adv. = one-time; see also while n. 6 b; one-woman a., of, pertaining to, or by one woman only; spec. loving, obedient to, or attached to one woman only; one-world a., of, pertaining to, or holding the view that there is only one world, or that the world's inhabitants are or should be united; hence one-worlder.

1962 L. Deighton Ipcress File ix. 54 Dalby stood..in front of a puny *one-bar electric fire. 1972 J. McClure Caterpillar Cop 147 The gigantic fireplace..had a one-bar electric fire poised for winter in its grate.

1909 Collier's 5 June 11/1 The batter..would..score only a *one-base hit, perhaps, instead of the home run. 1937 Amer. Speech XII. 244/1 Bingle is generic for a hit, but also indicates a one-base hit or single.

1880 Chicago Tribune 12 May 8/5 Clapp..was brought in by Anson's *one-baser. 1949 Los Angeles Times 13 Mar. 25/8 Unser led off with a one-baser.

1887 Graphic 2 Apr. 355/1 That not uncommon literary phenomenon, the *one-book man, whose endeavour to repeat a happy accident is the most imprudent thing he can do. 1890 Pall Mall G. 18 Sept. 2/2 One-book men are less common than they used to be. 1970 Daily Tel. 26 Sept. 8/6 The next book,..certainly a better novel than the second, enjoyed more success but the feeling began to grow that Remarque was a one-book author.

1854 *One catch all [see cowardy a.]. 1876 J. Burroughs Winter Sunshine VIII. i. 210, I could not only walk upon the grass, but..play ‘one catch all’ with children, boys, dogs, or sheep upon it. 1898 A. B. Gomme Traditional Games II. 25 One Catch-all. The words ‘Cowardy, cowardy custard’ are repeated by children playing at this game when they advance towards the one who is selected to catch them.

1861 C. M. Yonge Stokesley Secret iii. (1862) 45 A lady with..a good-humoured, *one-coloured face. 1870 Rock Text. Fabr. iv. (1876) 32 A one-coloured yet patterned silk.

[1818 S. Parkes Let. 20 Feb. in P. W. Flower Hist. Trade in Tin (1880) vii. 92 The following table will show the different sizes of tin plate which are made in Great Britain, and the marks by which each kind is known in commerce... Common No. 1 [size] 133/4 × 10..CI... Cross No. 1 133/4 × 10..XI.] 1890 Cent. Dict., *One-cross, a term applied to tin-plate..having the thickness of No. 30 Birmingham wire-gage, and having an average weight of 0·5 lb. per sheet. 1897 F. C. Moore How to build Home viii. 120 He is to furnish all tin cellar heating-pipes of best (one cross) tin.

1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXIII. 906/2 What are called *one-design, or restricted classes [of yachts] have latterly become popular. 1904 Rudder Nov. 609/2 A one-design boat is one of a fleet built from the same plans. 1928 Daily Tel. 11 Sept. 15/6 The East Coast one-design class to the number of nine, started at 10.30 a.m. to sail a course of a dozen sea miles. 1933 E. A. Robertson Ordinary Families v. 76 My dinghy's in for the Orwell one-designs. Ibid., The one-designs will be single-handed. 1949 Sun (Baltimore) 27 Aug. 8/8 Little Penguin Class dinghies, one of the most popular of the smaller one-design racing sailboats.

1928 Daily Tel. 11 Sept. 15/6 The second place on this occasion went to an Essex *one-designer.

1883 *One dimensional [see dimensional a. 2]. 1909 W. M. Urban Valuation iii. 57 All these differences are reducible to differences in intensity and duration of a one-dimensional continuum, pleasantness-unpleasantness. 1936 V. A. Demant Christian Polity ix. 153 History was seen as a one-dimensional continuum. 1958 M. Kennedy Outlaws on Parnassus ix. 141 Daniel..is as one-dimensional to her as Klesmer was. 1964 Philos. Rev. LXXIII. 497 A proposition is a linear or one-dimensional structure. 1970 G. K. Woodgate Elem. Atomic Struct. ii. 19 Equation (2.50) is in the form of a one-dimensional equation of motion. 1975 Nature 22 May 279/2 Fairly recently however there has been a sharp switch of attention to ‘one-dimensional materials’ (composed of parallel long chain molecules).

1951 S. F. Nadel Found. Social Anthropol. v. 90 In the order of groupings we find no exactly equivalent instances of ‘*one-dimensionality’. 1976 Sci. Amer. Dec. 105/2 These purely genetic studies were followed by cytological and biochemical work showing that the one-dimensionality of linkage maps was associated with the linear arrangement of the genes along the chromosome.

1937 Mind XLVI. 87 There is a *one-directional character to events, an irreversibility in their order. 1950 Auden Enchafèd Flood (1951) ii. 65 The determination to live in one-directional historical time rather than in cyclical natural time.

1953 N. Tinbergen Herring Gull's World xvi. 132 In the *one-egg phase the bird often stands a few feet away from the nest. 1959 Listener 29 Oct. 729/1 One-egg twins, being genetically identical, have exactly the same blood and tissue antigens. 1976 Times 23 Nov. 15/4 Siamese twins..are always one-egg twins.

1955 Times 1 July 15/1 The capital as doubled last year by the *one-for-one capitalization issue. 1962 W. Nowottny Lang. Poets Use i. 4 The equivalence is more complex than a simple one-for-one relation. 1975 Listener 6 Feb. 162/1 Arms are to be replaced only on a one-for-one basis.

1831 Lamb Lett., to Moxon (1888) II. 274 Did G. D. send his penny tract..to convert me to Unitarianism?..why I am as old a *one-Goddite as himself.

c 1425 Orolog. Sapient. ii. in Anglia X. 344/44 Myne *onegotene sone.

1886 T. P. White Ordnance Survey of U.K. vi. 102 On the *one-inch map, also,..are shown the foot⁓paths as cross-cuts between roads. 1913 M. I. Newbigin Ordnance Survey Maps ii. 17 The scale of the 1-inch map is too large for any rapid form of locomotion. 1929 W. E. Collinson Spoken Eng. 88 I've got a one-inch ordnance [survey]. 1948 N.Y. Jrnl. American (Sunday Mail ed.) 9 May 1/1 The Court packing plan was defeated by a one-inch punch. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 1 Mar. 62/1 The one-inch-to-the-mile survey sheet of Carmarthenshire. 1974 G. Moffat Corpse Road vii. 108 ‘Have you got that one-inch?’ he asked. Barber brought him the map.

1904 ‘Mark Twain’ in Harper's Weekly 2 Jan. 18/1 There were headings—*one-liners and two-liners—and that was good. 1969 Harper's Mag. May 85/2 McCarthy had a one-liner for everyone in Washington, and the reporters who found favor were those who learned to leer and feed straight lines. 1975 New Yorker 19 May 23/3 Gail Parent's novel is in the form of a fat girl's jokey suicide note, full of one-liners. 1976 Times Lit. Suppl. 11 June 688/5 His dear cousins collapse in mirth at Berry's one-liners and monologues.

1908 S. Ford Side-Stepping with Shorty 90 Then me and Sadie in her bubble, towin' the busted *one-lunger behind. 1911 H. Quick Yellowstone Nights v. 124 The Old Man..was a one-lunger. 1943 ‘T. Dudley-Gordon’ Coastal Command xiii. 125 Angus, the local boatman, came alongside in his elderly ‘one-lunger’ motor-boat and took us ashore. 1963 Bird & Hutton-Stott Veteran Motor Car 15 The ‘Varsity’ model, and a few of the old one-lungers. 1976 Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 11 Apr. 10/1 This engine, a one-lunger, as it was called, drove the Scud..at a speed of six knots.

1842 Congress. Globe 27th Congress 2 Sess. App. 812/3 Those whose clamors are so unceasing against what they are pleased to call the ‘*one-man power’. 1844 Mechanics' Mag. XLI. 370 A common road one-man carriage. 1882 Daily News 18 Jan. 5/6 To keep him in, if that may be done without erecting a One-man Government. 1894 Ibid. 4 Apr. 5/3 If it contains a clause establishing one-man-one-vote, they will meet it with an amendment embodying in their opinion the principle of one-vote-one-value. 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 306 Mr. Glass and I shared a one-man canoe, and the water lapped over the edge in an alarming way. 1929 D. H. Lawrence Lovely Lady (1933) 99 I'm afraid Virginia is a one-man woman. 1939 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Ingleside xxiv. 161 There are dogs like that—one-man dogs. 1951 J. C. Fennessy Sonnet in Bottle vii. i. 244 Goebbels is a one-man monkey—he doesn't like anybody but me. 1956 Railway Mag. May 301/2 The current practice appears to be dictated..by the economics and safety of one-man operation. 1967 Economist 9 Dec. 1031/2 Mr Frank Cousins is facing the Government once more—this time in an attempt to keep some thousands of unnecessary bus conductors riding around on routes that could become profitable with one-man bus operation. 1975 A. Hunter Gently with Love xi. 32 Anne has been a one-man girl ever since she met Earle. 1976 Dumfries & Galloway Standard 25 Dec. 16/3 The way to make economies without too much cutting down of services is to..bring in one-man-operated buses.

1931 (record-title) The *one-man band. 1938 Partridge Dict. Slang Suppl. 1018/2 One-man band, a person that takes rather too much on himself..; slightly ob., as is l'homme orchestre supplying the origin. 1958 Listener 23 Oct. 663/2 The versatility..was capitally sustained. The ‘one-man band’ was never ‘off-beat’. 1962 Sunday Times (Colour Suppl.) 14 Oct. 9/1 There should also be remembered the great one-man bands of the museum world: men like Sandberg of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. 1965 Listener 10 June 877/1 That odd one-man-band, the three-hole pipe and tabor, which is now almost entirely confined to the border lands of France and Spain. 1974 N. Bentley Inside Information vi. 57 We're two mechanics short and the accountant's on holiday, so I'm a one-man band at the moment. 1977 Listener 7 Apr. 447/1 A young antiquarian..did a one-man-band act..making lonesome horn noises with his mouth to accompany his own piano solo.

1896 G. B. Shaw Our Theatres in Nineties (1932) II. 287 The real objection to Cibber's version is that it is what we call a ‘*one man show’. 1905 Today 15 Mar. 211/1 One of the young artists..is now having his first ‘one-man-show’ in London. 1943 F. Scully Rogue's Gallery 132 He lectured on the drama at Columbia, and even took up painting in his middle age staging several one-man shows though he never had an art lesson in his life. 1955 Ann. Reg. 1954 373 The Beaux Arts Gallery..held..the first one-man show..of John Bratby. 1962 Listener 6 Sept. 358/3 Uncle Kweku..started singing ‘Happy birthday’ in English... It..became a one-man show. 1976 ‘Z. Stone’ Modigliani Scandal i. ii. 25 ‘Usher's one-man show has had it.’ ‘I'm afraid so..it won't harm him all that much. His talent will tell in the long run.’

1910, etc. *One-many [see many-one adj. s.v. many a. 6 c]. 1945 R. G. Collingwood Idea of Nature i. ii. 71 The Platonic form is not a ‘logical universal’, and the things, in the natural world..to which it stands in a one-many relation are not instances but approximations of it. 1964 E. Bach Introd. Transformational Gram. iii. 35 Rules which replace a single symbol by one or more symbols (one-many rules). 1972 Lect. R. Inst. Philos. V. 77 Berkeley regarded the relation between the self and its ideas as a necessary one-many relation.

1900 H. Lawson On Track 124 But for the *one-night lodgers..I was pretty comfortable there. 1915 T. S. Eliot Prufrock (1917) 9 Restless nights in one-night cheap hotels. 1943 D. Gascoyne Poems 1937–1942 46 Dozens of one-night rooms. 1976 New Yorker 15 Nov. 56/3 A fund-raising one-night gala performance.

1923 U. L. Silberrad Lett. J. Armiter iii. 62 The people of the house follow a sort of ‘sheep and goat’ plan, keeping us separate; we, the maiden-lady-some-stay visitors, sit at the upper end of the table, the *one-nighters at the other end. 1937 Amer. Speech XII. 184/2 One nighter, an engagement to play for a single night. 1959 H. Hobson Mission House Murder iii. 22 Johnny hasn't quite become a national star yet, but he pulls in a stack of lolly doing one-nighters, mostly in the provinces. 1973 Guardian 28 June 15/5 Bloated, badly dressed, he was doing one-nighters with a zombie rhythm section. 1977 ‘L. Egan’ Blind Search iv. 55 We don't get so many one-nighters like we used to.

1880 D. K. Ranous Diary of Daly Débutante (1910) 189 This coming week..is to be what they call ‘*one-night stands’. 1883 National Police Gaz. (U.S.) 8 Dec. 3/3 One night stands are not going to be subject, if they can help it, to the experiments of one troupe of queer fakirs after another. 1896, etc. [see stand n.1 2 e]. 1904 G. V. Hobart Jim Hickey i. 13 I'm too delicate for this one-night stand gag. I'm going to New York and build a theatre. 1912 Wodehouse Prince & Betty ii. 28 What's the use of a Republic in a place like this? For a little bit of a one-night stand like this you want something picturesque, something that'll advertise the place. 1916 G. B. Shaw Let. 14 May in B. Shaw & Mrs. Campbell (1952) 186, I told you not to do those one-night stands. 1937 New Republic 24 Nov. 70/2 The band plays a one-night stand in some town near. 1956 B. Holiday Lady sings Blues (1973) i. 3 When he went on the road with that band it was the beginning of the end of our life as a family. Baltimore got to be just another one-night stand. 1959 ‘F. Newton’ Jazz Scene xi. 185 One of the worst kinds of professional life, that of the touring artist, often passing through a succession of one-night stands. 1963 A. Heron Towards Quaker View of Sex iii. 23 These affairs may still be very promiscuous—‘one night stands’—or mainly emotional. 1972 J. Wilson Hide & Seek viii. 138 Nearly everyone else he knew had had at least a few casual affairs or one-night stands.

1860 Harper's Mag. July 195/1 Mrs. Tyler Todd caught the toss, like a skilful player at ‘*one old cat’, on the edge of her..bonnet. 1929 Sun (Baltimore) 27 Mar. 10/3 Supervised play has taken the place of ‘one old cat’, and hockey has replaced shinney. 1949 Chicago Daily News 6 July 14/7 Juvenile pirates had their hang-outs and..one-old-cat and high-button-shoe football thrived. 1974 Amer. Speech 1971 XLVI. 84 Ball, puck, and tin-can games..one old cat baseball.

1903 B. Russell Princ. Math. xi. 113 This requires that there should be some *one-one relation whose domain is the one class and whose converse domain is the other class. 1922, etc. One-one [see many-many adj. s.v. many a. 6 c]. 1950 C. M. Bowra Romantic Imagination 33 For him [sc. William Blake] allegory in the good sense is not the kind of ‘one-one correspondence’ which we find in Pilgrim's Progress. 1965 Patterson & Rutherford Elem. Abstr. Algebra i. 3 If..f is a mapping of S1 into S2 such that f(x1) = f(x2) {implies} x1 = x2, then f is called a one–one mapping or a one–one correspondence. 1972 Lect. R. Inst. Philos. V. 80 If there were ideas..in this sense ‘simple’ they would stand only in a one–one relation to minds.

1924 Granta 25 Apr. 361/2 Last but not least he took a ‘*one one’ in the French Tripos last year. 1968 K. Martin Editor i. 3, I had taken a One–one in my Tripos at Magdalene.

1967 Technology Week 20 Feb. 3/1 In the *one-on-one, relatively ‘simple’ intercepts run during the 1962–63 test series, the ‘old’ Nike-Zeus scored on 10 of 14 attempted live ICBM intercepts. 1972 J. Gores Dead Skip (1973) i. 7 He had started as a field agent..three years before, when he had realized he wasn't going to be middleweight champ of the world after all; it was the only profession he knew which could give him the same one-on-one excitement he'd found in the ring. 1974 ‘E. Lathen’ Sweet & Low xi. 113 He was not in a one-on-one confrontation. There was a goodly array of..small fry present.

1932 D. Burnstine Four Horsemen's One over One Method of Contract Bidding i. 1 The *One-Over-One system of bidding has achieved its present fame because of its use by players who have won the majority of contract tournaments. Ibid. 3 The One-Over-One offers leeway in arriving at the correct contract with ease. 1934 Amer. Speech IX. 10/1 There are..several varieties of one-over-one bids. 1959 Listener 19 Mar. 530/1 Many completely minimum hands..could be hamstrung by a simple one-over-one response on the first round.

1795 Times 6 May in Ashton Old Times (1885) 317 The Name under the *one-pair-of-stairs window. 1897 Pall Mall Mag. Jan. 104 A big man..leaning from a one-pair window.

1585 Higins tr. Junius' Nomenclator, Basilinda,..The playe called *one penie, one penie: come after me. 1598 in Florio. 1677 in Holyoke.

1880 G. A. Sala Amer. Revisited (1882) II. 13 Slop-shops, or ‘*one-piece stores’ overflowing with guernseys, pea jackets, sou'-wester hats. 1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. 501/2 Bathing suits. One-piece suits. 1912 Woman's Weekly 25 May 100/3 (caption) A One-Piece Dress, One-Piece Petticoat, One-Piece Drawers, and One-Piece Bodice. 1930 Engineering 7 Mar. 309/3 The housing and arm being also a one-piece casting. 1972 J. Mosedale Football ii. 21 The Van Buren uniform included a one-piece fiber crown replacing the sewn leather helmets of the pre-1940s. 1973 ‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Starry Bird xiv. 203 A gorgeous one-piece black bathing suit. 1974 F. Warner Meeting Ends i. i. 2 Wrasse..in modern one-piece bathing costume.

1919 W. H. Downing Digger Dial. 37 *One-pip, Second Lieutenant.

1937 Partridge Dict. Slang 589/1 *One-pipper. 1956 D. M. Davin Sullen Bell 181 Whatever young one-pipper it was could get a night's leave. 1974 G. M. Fraser McAuslan in Rough 17 Keith was a mere pink-cheeked one-pipper of twenty years, whereas I had reached the grizzled maturity of twenty-one and my second star.

1938 Jrnl. Symbolic Logic III. ii. 83 Chapter 2 supplements the propositional calculus..with the Boolean algebra of *one-place predicates. 1947 H. Reichenbach Elem. Symbolic Logic §17. 83 The term ‘property’..is usually applied only to one-place situational functions. 1967 S. C. Kleene Math. Logic §27. 145 More essential use is made of the predicate calculus with quantification of one-place predicates in Example 19. 1974 Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics XIX. 151 But what I want to focus on here is the claim that easy is a one-place predicate with a sentential subject, while eager has a sentential object.

1959 J. W. Carr in E. M. Grabbe et al. Handbk. Automation, Computation, & Control II. ii. 58 In the *one-plus-one addressing procedure, each instruction has a basic single-address format, but also includes a second address to be used to designate the location of the next instruction to be performed. 1969 P. B. Jordain Condensed Computer Encycl. 351 The one-plus-one address instruction has only the power (or flexibility) of a one-address instruction, because only one operand reference is included.

1892 J. A. Ewing Magn. Induction in Iron ii. 40 We may distinguish this as the ‘*one-pole’ method, seeing that the deflection of the magnetometer is mainly caused by one of the bar's poles. 1932 ‘N. Shute’ Lonely Road i. 15 From the set of her one pole mast she might have been a Thames bawley of about fifty tons. 1940 M. Miller Harbor of Sun xxviii. 311 When a fisherman describes the size of a school as ‘one-pole tuna’, ‘two-pole tuna’ and sometimes ‘three-pole tuna’, he is but saying that the size of the tuna in that special school required one, two or three men to a team for hauling in each fish.

1845 C. M. Kirkland Western Clearings (1846) 27 Some scattered grains of coarse powder from near the touch-hole of the *one-pounder that was fired all day by the opposition. 1893 ‘Mark Twain’ in Century Mag. Jan. 339/2 They find they've given a tramp a million-pound bill when they thought it was a one-pounder.

1916 ‘B. M. Bower’ Phantom Herd v. 69 We've made quite a haul since you left. A bunch of *one-reelers. 1976 Listener 23–30 Dec. 833/1 When you were making the one-reelers, did each have a lengthy script?

1922 Wodehouse Clicking of Cuthbert vi. 142 No human being could play golf against a *one-ring circus like that without blowing up. 1972 Village Voice (N.Y.) 1 June 40/3 An opera house that is not a cultural force is only a one-ring circus made up of vocal acrobats who use music as a trampoline.

1934 Amer. Speech IX. 112/2 Plenty of *one-stop service stations for washing, minor repairs, lubrication, etc. 1962 Economist 5 May 452/1 Commercial banks which are able to offer complete ‘one stop’ banking service—including current accounts, consumer loans and so on. 1971 E. Afr. Jrnl. Mar. 34 (Advt.), You will find Text Book Centre a one-stop warehouse for all your educational requirements. 1978 Oxford Consumer Mar. 5/1 The store will specialise in the provision of food lines at economic prices and will be backed up by a sufficient range of household goods to enable the shopping public to derive the maximum convenience from a ‘one stop’ shopping trip.

1958 A. J. Bliss Metre of Beowulf 62 We must, in fact, recognize the possibility of *one-stress verses. Sievers himself in later life envisaged such one-stress verses; Pope, too, makes one-stress verses a mainstay of his new theory. 1965 Eng. Stud. XLVI. 419 As examples of light, one-stress verses he gives: hu ða æðelingas.

1961 Webster, *One-suiter. 1971 ‘O. Bleeck’ Thief who painted Sunlight (1972) xx. 181 He was carrying something that looked like a one-suiter.

1947 C. Eisenhart et al. Sel. Techniques Statistical Anal. 459/2 (Index), One-sided or *one-tail tests of statistical hypotheses. 1954 Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. XLV. 174 The difference between these means is..only just significant at the 5% level, using the one-tail test.

1950 M. H. Quenouille Introd. Statistics v. 98 Here, since we are interested in deviations in one direction only, probabilities calculated using x2 must be halved. We are then said to be using a *one-tailed test. 1969 R. H. Kolstoe Introd. Statistics Behav. Sci. x. 203 In a few situations the research worker, before collecting his data, decides that he is interested in one specific directional hypothesis... In this case a one-tailed test of significance would be indicated. 1971 B. Erricker Advanced Gen. Statistics xiv. 206 If we were only interested in whether the tensile strengths of the components of the first manufacturer are greater than those from the second we would only need a one-tailed test.

1850 W. Howitt Year-bk. Country vi. 179 Old Lodge, we salute thee for thy venerable antiquity; but we owe thee no respect as the *one-time resort of the boasted virgin queen! 1870 Appleton's Jrnl. 5 Feb. 161/2 Then you would have one brought after the other, unless accompanied by the request, ‘all at the same time’, or, in their [sc. native Liberians’] own language, ‘go fetch 'em come; both two; one time’! 1873 C. J. G. Rampini Lett. from Jamaica 177 Man can't smoke an' whistle one time. 1881 J. F. T. Keane Journ. Medinah 195–6 One very handsome pair of English..pistols..with their one-time owner's name on them. 1886 F. T. Elworthy West Somerset Word-bk. 537 There used to be a public-house there one time, but he bin pulled down 'is gurt many years. 1897 Westm. Gaz. 24 June 2/2 Prime Minister of the one-time dependency of Van Diemen's Land. 1899 C. J. C. Hyne Further Adventures Capt. Kettle ii. 31 He wouldn't stop for fighting-palaver. He'd be off for bush, one-time. 1924 Time 7 Jan. 30/2 Died. Richard Wittig, brother of Maximillian Harden, famed German publicist, onetime friend of the Kaiser, onetime Oberburgomaster of Posen. 1928 Flynn's Weekly 4 Feb. 436/1 Big Bill Douglas was enjoying a year's vacation from his usual haunts up at Sing Sing at the expense of the State. To his underworld associates he was doing a short bit in the Big House, or a one time loser. 1942 Z. N. Hurston in A. Dundes Mother Wit (1973) 225/2 A Zigaboo..asked a woman that one time. 1950 ‘S. Ransome’ Deadly Miss Ashley viii. 96 Duncan Westling's onetime confidential secretary was now the secretary of Duncan Westling's onetime mistress? 1959 Listener 10 Dec. 1023/1 The Soviet Union has lately placed some big orders with British industry... But we have a feeling that these are, or may be, one-time orders to enable the Soviet Union to progress towards self-sufficiency. 1967 Ibid. 2 Feb. 157/1 S. W. Johnson-Marshall, one-time chief architect at the Ministry of Education. 1973 N.Y. Law Jrnl. 27 Mar. 4/5 The tenant insisted that the only increase he was obliged to pay was a one-time increase.

[1955 Gloss. Soviet Military Terminol. (U.S. Army Technical Manual 30–544) 228/1 One-time system.] 1977 Sci. Amer. Aug. 120/3 It is easy to see why the *one-time cipher is uncrackable even in principle. Since each symbol can be represented by any other symbol, and each choice of representation is completely random, there is no internal pattern.

1953 N.Y. Times Mag. 15 Mar. 62/2 The Russians are notorious for their reliance on a device known as the ‘*one-time-pad’. This means..that each message is sent in a completely different code. 1966 M. R. D. Foot SOE in France iv. 105 By now [sc. 1944] the British were using a much safer..cipher: one-time pad... The agent held a pad of silk slips, each printed with columns of random letters or figures from which any message could be enciphered or deciphered; he..was supposed to tear each slip off and burn it after use. 1977 Sci. Amer. Aug. 120/3 If the one-time pad provides absolute secrecy, why is it not used for all secret communication? The answer is that it is too impractical. Each time it is employed a key must be sent in advance, and the key must be at least as long as the anticipated message.

1959 *One-to-many [see correspondence 1 b]. 1976 P. R. White Planning for Public Transport v. 112 In a one-to-many situation, passengers joining at the fixed point(s) request the driver to serve a destination, and no radio contact is necessary.

1873 Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. IV. 252 The equations..being supposed to establish a ‘*one-to-one’ correspondence between the two integral spaces. 1882, etc. One-to-one [see correspondence 1 b]. 1903 B. Russell Princ. Math. xi. 113 Two classes have the same number..when their terms can be correlated one to one, so that any one term of either corresponds to one and one only term of the other. 1931 C. Fox Mind & its Body iii. 62 One of the most important assumptions of psychological physiology was this one-to-one correspondence between neural processes and mental processes. 1936 J. R. Kantor Objective Psychol. Gram. xvii. 237 There is no clear-cut one-to-one relation between a grammatical form and a definite time point. 1963 J. Lyons Structural Semantics iii. 37 It is not so much that one language draws a greater or less number of semantic distinctions than another which prevents the matching of their vocabularies one-to-one. 1968 C. G. Kuper Introd. Theory Superconductivity xii. 193 There is a one-to-one correspondence between the states of a gas of non-interacting Bosons and those of a family of harmonic oscillators. 1973 One-to-one [see nicotinic a. 2].

1928 D. H. Lawrence Lady Chatterley xix. 363 They're all *one-track minds nowadays. 1932 Kansas City (Missouri) Times 5 May 20 The persons with the one-track mind are the ones who usually have the most collisions. 1934 H. Nicolson Curzon: Last Phase 18 He has been accused of possessing a ‘one-track mind’, of being deficient in creative, as opposed to emotional, imagination. 1935 B. Malinowski in M. Black Importance of Lang. (1962) 78 The advertisements emanating from such one-track remedies. 1944 ‘Brahms’ & ‘Simon’ Titania has Mother viii. 68 Her son..had launched himself onto a one-track conversation. 1957 P. Frank Seven Days to Never ii. 48 The electronic machines..could distract a Russian missile's one-track mind. 1968 National Observer (U.S.) 3 June 15/1 It's not that I'm antisocial. It's just that I'm preoccupied. I have a very one-track mind. 1973 ‘H. Howard’ Highway to Murder vii. 77 I've got a one-track mind... All this started with a man getting shot and I keep thinking along those lines.

1967 Times Rev. Industry May 72/2 Most containers are ‘*one-trip’ in the sense that the product is used and the container is thrown away.

1809 Roland Fencing 70 In the motions of *one-two you disengage alternately, on one side of the adversary's blade, and then return on the other. Ibid. 89 If the adversary parries the one-two-three feint. 1811 Sporting Mag. XXXVIII. 140/2 He..had no difficulty at getting at his man when he chose with a one, two. 1815 Pancratia (ed. 2) 359 He fought cautiously..and whenever he closed put in his one two with the greatest dexterity. 1910 G. W. E. Russell Sketches & Snapshots xlvii. 445 A smart one-two on his smeller effectually tapped his claret. 1931 Times Lit. Suppl. 22 Oct. 819/1 The flawless stance and one-two punch of Peter Jackson. 1948 Economist 20 Mar. 454/1 His [sc. Stalin's] one-two play in Czechoslovakia and Finland. 1952 A. Wilson Hemlock & After iii. i. 201 Even Ron was surprised that his ‘old one two’ was quite so compelling. 1960 Times 4 Oct. 13/4 ‘The old one-two’, in the boxing slang of a more vulgarly robust age, indicated a quick follow-up with the right immediately after the left had landed, and the near synchronization of the two blows added immensely to their effect. 1970 Times 1 Oct. 10/3 Hinton came up from his position of centre back to play a one-two with Hutchinson and leave the wretched Christidis stranded. 1974 J. Gardner Corner Men xi. 100 Let Hart and Harvey work them over, then we can go in and do the old routine... The old one two. 1978 Sunday Times (Colour Suppl.) 28 May 34/4 One-two, using a colleague for an immediate return pass, to run on to.

1933 A. Salter in A. F. Brockway Bermondsey Story (1949) ii. 12 The house was *one up, one down, with a small scullery. 1968 Busby & Holtham Main Line Kill vi. 68 Some of the back to back terraces of poky little one-up, one-down houses had been pulled down.

1898 W. B. Smith Infinitesimal Analysis i. 7 When to one value of the one variable there corresponds only one value of the other, this latter is called a *one-valued or unique function of the former. 1913 Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. XIV. 481 None of the equivalent postulate-sets here referred to is in terms of its undefined entities one-valued (‘categorical’)—that is, each determines not a single algebra but a class of algebras. 1943 Amer. Speech XVIII. 220 The first stage of human development..is that of the savage, prelogical mentality, with a one-valued semantics (or system of evaluations), in which, as Lucien Lévy-Bruhl has said, ‘everything is everything else’ by ‘mystic participation’. 1968 E. T. Copson Metric Spaces vii. 85 A function is, by definition, one-valued.

1882 Q. Rev. Jan. 209 Madame, the *onewhile beloved of Gibbon.

1894 Hall Caine Manxman i. ix. 45 I'm a *one-woman man, Kate; but loving one is giving me eyes for all. 1937 M. Hillis Orchids on your Budget (1938) iv. 68 We ourselves have run our one-woman ménage both with and without an office job. 1960 P. Tompkins in G. B. Shaw To a Young Actress 151 Thirty-five paintings for a one-woman exhibition at the Leicester Galleries. 1962 I. Murdoch Unofficial Rose ii. 32 He's a one-woman cat. 1974 J. Cleary Peter's Pence v. 156 I'm a one-woman man.

1926 A. E. Taylor Plato viii. 198 The epiphenomenalist is tied by his theory to a ‘*one-world’ interpretation of human experience; morality presupposes a ‘two-world’ interpretation. 1947 Collier's 7 June 12 (title) Dunkirk—the one-world town.

1948 Sun (Baltimore) 22 June 2/1 His selection of Stassen for Taft's running mate was new and was surprising, in view of his oft-repeated denunciation of Stassen as a ‘*one-worlder’ who would be unsafe in high office. 1958 Spectator 15 Aug. 228/2 ‘Men live and die for a flag; it is indeed the only thing for which they are willing to die in masses..’ is a statement of a truth which one-worlders ignore at their peril. 1965 Social Crediter 31 July 2/2 The active Socialists, Communists, and One-Worlders.

    
    

---

    
     Add: [B.] [V.] [21.] b. Denoting the speaker, esp. in direct or indirect speech, with a hint or suggestion of social superiority or affectation.

1844 Punch VI. 52/2, I mean not to include the real ills, but to speak of the numberless trifles that irritate and annoy one. 1905 H. A. Vachell Hill v. 92 The Caterpillar..murmured—‘One doesn't pretend to be a Christian, but as a gentleman one accepts a bit of bad luck without gnashing one's teeth.’ 1942 E. Waugh Put out More Flags i. 24 Lady Seal..had told Anderson it [sc. the bombardment] was probably only a practice. That was what one told servants. 1956 R. Henriques Red over Green iii. 60 He meant nothing... One can't even remember his face. 1959 E. H. Clements High Tension ii. 19 ‘Do you often have your fan-mail in person?’..‘Not often. One isn't in the telephone book.’ 1982 F. Johnson Out of Order 9 How to persuade the Telegraph that..one was a man of immense culture? (Saying ‘one’ when you mean ‘I’ would do for a start, I decided.)

▪ II. one, v. Now rare.
    (wʌn)
    Forms: 4–5 onen, oone(n, north. ane, 6– one.
    [ME. onen, anen; OE. had ᵹe-ánian; (pa. pple. ᵹe-áned); in OHG. einôn, usually gi-einôn, MHG. and G. einen; f. án, one. Cf. L. ūnīre, F. unir, from ūnus, un.]
    1. trans. To make into one; to unite.

[c 900 tr. Bæda's Eccl. Hist. iii. xiv. [xix.] (1890) 214 Oð þæt heo wæron in æn[n]e unmætne lieᵹ [MS. læᵹ] ᵹeanede and ᵹesomnade.] c 1340 Hampole Prose Tr. 34 To se hym in his blysse and to be anede to hym in lufe. Ibid. 38 Of þe soule of Iesu, whilke was aned fully to þe godhede. c 1386 Chaucer Sompn. T. 260 Ech thyng that is oned in it selue Is moore strong than whan it is toscatered. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VI. 289 Egbertus onede the kyngdoms. c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. viii. 41 Forto be couplid and ooned to God. 1491 Caxton Vitas Patr. (W. de W. 1495) i. xlix. 98 a/1 Yf the Pryours were unyed and onyd wyth the abbayes. 1587 Byrd's Psalms, Sonn. etc. in Arb. Garner II. 93 Dead! no, no, but renowned! With the anointed oned! 1672 Cressy in Stillingfl. Idol. Ch. Rome (ed. 2) 225 Our soul is so fulsomely oned to God. Ibid., The maker to whom it is oned. 1828 Craven Gloss. (ed. 2), One, to atone. 1839 Bailey Festus ii. (1852) 23 It is this which ones us with the whole and God. 1921 B. Williamson Supernat. Mysticism v. 45 The human race was so oned with Adam that all sinned in him.

    † 2. refl. and intr. To agree, unite; to come to terms. Obs.

1340 Ayenb. 219 Yef tuo of ous oneþ ham togidere me uor to bidde. a 1400–50 Alexander 879 He..Anes with Olympadas..And lofe hire lely, to his lyfes ende. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. iv. xviii. heading, Quhen þe Kyng Antyocus anyd wyth þe Romanys.

▪ III. † one, onne, adv. and prep. Obs.
    [An early ME. deriv. form from on, on the analogy of inne, etc. (Cf. offe.)]
    = on. a. as prepositional adv., or prep. after relative.

c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 89 Swo hatte þe þrop þe preste one wunien. Ibid., He..bed hem bringen a wig one te riden. c 1200 Ormin 3753 O þatt nahht þatt Crist wass borenn onne. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 242 Nouȝt to liue onne. ― Sel. Wks. III. 207 Þat day mot periche þat I was born onne. a 1400 Pistill of Susan 164 Bi þe lord and þe lawe þat we onne leeue. a 1425 Cursor M. 676 Þat mychel murþe was onne [earlier MSS. on] to se. Ibid. 5715.

    b. as ordinary prep.

c 1205 Lay. 4069 Cloten hauede Cornwale, Þat he heold wel one griðe. Ibid. 6719 Þe king..nam onne [c 1275 on] his honde Ane wi-æxe stronge. c 1220 Bestiary 436 He billeð one ðe foxes fel. Ibid. 504. c 1400 R. Glouc.'s Chron. (Rolls) 1446 He biþoȝte him of felonie [MS. α one feloniȝe].

▪ IV. † one
    app. var. of hone n.², delay, tarrying.

1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 2579 Atte verste wiþoute one Castigen þe kinges broþer mid is men echone Asaylede hors & is ost.

▪ V. one
    obs. erron. form of own a.
▪ VI. one
    rare erron. f. wone, Obs., abundance, store.

Oxford English Dictionary