condole, v.
(kənˈdəʊl)
[ad. L. condolēre (Tertullian, Jerome) to suffer greatly, suffer with, feel another's pain. (Cf. F. condouloir.)]
I. intr.
† 1. To sorrow greatly, grieve, lament. Obs.
| [1460–90 Cf. condolent.] 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. i. ii. 29 That will aske some teares in the true performing of it..I will condole in some measure. 1598 Tofte Alba (1880) 119 For my Sinnes fore Heauen I do condole. 1650 Fuller Pisgah ii. iii. 94 We cannot but condole, that the same persons were afterwards poisoned with hereticall opinions. |
2. a. To grieve with; to express sympathy with another in his affliction. (The only extant use.)
| a 1603 Queen Elizabeth Let. in Hearne's Collect. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) II. 189 We..have dispatched this Gentleman..to condole with you in the sense of your Love. 1661 Bramhall Just Vind. ii. 15 To condole with them in their sufferings. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 114 ¶1, I contented myself to sit by him, and condole with him in Silence. 1784 Cowper Lett. Nov., To condole with you on the death of a mother aged eighty-seven would be absurd. 1871 Morley Voltaire (1886) 168 A man who writes a touching and pathetic letter condoling with a friend on the loss of his wife. |
b. absol. To express condolence or sympathy.
| 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxiii. 126 An Ambassador sent..to congratulate, condole, etc. 1777 Burke Corr. (1844) II. 135 The tories are very eager to congratulate. It was not handsome of them not to condole on the ill-successes of last year. 1833 H. Martineau Loom & Lugger ii. vi. 109 Three quarters of her acquaintance came to condole. |
II. trans. Obs.
† 3. To grieve over, bewail, lament (misfortune).
| 1607 Hieron Wks. I. 179 How tender-hearted the Lord is, and how he doth..condole our miseries. 1635 T. Cranley Amanda (1639) 32 A grieved soule, That with repentance doth his sinnes condole. 1654 R. Codrington tr. Hist. Ivstine 496 He..somtimes would lamentably condole him, being slain. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) VII. 325 A person..whose sufferings I condole. 1788 New Lond. Mag. 9 His death was no less pleasing to one party than it was condoled by the other. |
4. To express (formally) one's sympathetic regret at (a misfortune).
| 1596 Danett tr. Comines 346 The Venetians Generall, sent the steward of his house thither to condole the late deceased Marchionesse death. 1685 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 332 They are sending hither ambassadors to condole the death of the late king. 1726 Wodrow Corr. (1843) III. 329 He was sent..to congratulate King George the Second, and condole with him the death of his father. 1827 Sir H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. III. 143 note, Elizabeth had sent to condole the death of Frederick the Second. 1969 Hindusthan Stand. (Calcutta) 5 Aug. 6/4 Students..passed a resolution condoling the death of Mr. Prakash Podder. |
† 5. To grieve with (a sufferer); to express one's commiseration of or sympathy with. Obs. (Now supplied by 2.)
| 1588 D. Rogers in Ellis Orig. Lett. ii. III. 151 Others which have condoled and congratulated the yonge Kinge. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, ii. i. 133 Let vs condole the Knight. 1661 Petit. for Peace 4 They..must either incur these sufferings, or condole them that undergo them. 1710 Addison Whig Exam. No. 3 ¶4 They are comforted and condoled..by their fellow-citizens. 1779 Sylph I. 6 They condoled me on my misfortune. |
† 6. refl. To bewail oneself; to mourn. Obs.
| 1592 Daniel Compl. Rosamond 17 Condole thee here, clad all in black Despair. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 222 ¶9 It would be impossible..to condole himself long in that Situation, without really dying for his Mistress. 1767 Babler I. 4 Should I fail in the attempt, I must condole myself with a line of my friend Horace. |