▪ I. solitaire, n.
(ˈsɒlɪtɛə(r), sɒlɪˈtɛə(r))
[a. F. solitaire, ad. L. sōlitārius solitary n. and a.]
1. A person who lives in seclusion, solitude, or retirement; a recluse.
| 1716 Pope Lett. (1735) I. 153 How often..one Evening of your Conversation has spoil'd me for a Solitaire! 1764 H. Walpole Corr. (1891) IV. 296 You see I am likely to totter into a solitaire at three-score. 1797 A. M. Bennett Beggar Girl (1813) II. 111 The graceful solitaire there was already acquainted with the misfortune. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey ii. x, Oh! you are here, Mr. Grey, acting the solitaire in the park! 1859 E. Capern Ballads & Songs 140 There I could dwell a studious solitaire. |
2. A precious stone, usually a diamond, set by itself. Also ellipt., a solitaire ring.
| a 1727 Mrs. Delany Life & Corr. (1861) I. 71 To give me the solitaires, which are at last arrived. 1760 Foote Minor 11, Many an aigrette and solitaire have I sold, to discharge a lady's play-debt. 1832 Marryat N. Forster liii, This diamond solitaire that's..upon my finger. 1862 Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit. II. No. 6181, Shirt studs, sleeve links, clasps, solitaires. 1886 R. F. Burton Arab. Nts. (abr. ed.) I. p. vii, I saw the evening star hanging like a solitaire from the pure front of the western firmament. |
| attrib. 1836 Marryat Japhet lviii, A diamond solitaire ring, which I had intended to have left with my other bijouterie. 1840 ― Olla Podr. (Rtldg.) 239 The ring..was a splended solitaire diamond. |
3. A game which can be played by one person: a. One of various kinds of card-games. b. A game played on a board with marbles or pegs, which have to be removed by jumping as in draughts.
| 1746 H. Walpole Lett. (1846) II. 165 Has Miss Harriet found out any more ways at solitaire? 1825 Bentham Ration. Reward 209 As the amusement of a minister of state,..a more suitable one might be found than a game at solitaire. 1850 Bohn's Handbk. Games (1867) 556 It is, in fact, a sort of solitaire for each player in turn. 1891 Gosse Gossip Libr. viii. 95 Like the boards on which people play the game of solitaire. |
| attrib. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Lab. II. 17, I am moreover told that in the same second-hand calling were boards known as ‘solitaire-boards’. 1873 Routledge's Young Gentl. Mag. Jan. 118/2 A ball belonging to a solitaire-board. |
4. A loose neck-tie of black silk or broad ribbon worn by men in the 18th century.
| 1731 Gentl. Mag. I. 321 We have brought home the French Coifure, the Robe de Chambre of the Women, and Toupé and Solitaire of the Men. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 596 The beau, almost throttled in a large solitaire,..was thought to appear most charming. 1805 W. Cooke Foote II. 6 He exhibited a full dress suit, bag wig and solitaire, sword, muff, rings, &c. c 1839 T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Sutherl. (Colburn) 15 A gentleman dressed in a peach-coloured velvet coat, with..a solitaire round his neck. [1882 Gosse Gray 28 He ties a vast solitaire around his neck.] |
5. Ornith. a. A large flightless bird (Pezophaps solitarius) formerly existing in the island of Rodriguez. Cf. solitary n. 3.
| 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) VI. 20/1 The solitaire, or solitary dodo, is a large bird. 1863 Dana Man. Geol. 578 The Solitaire is another exterminated bird of the same island. 1896 Newton Dict. Birds 892 Perhaps no species has had its osteology examined on so great a scale as the Solitaire. |
b. A Jamaican bird (Myiodectes solitarius).
| 1847 Gosse Birds Jamaica 205 As far as I know, the food of the Solitaire is exclusively berries. 1860 ― Rom. Nat. Hist. 18 The lengthened flute-like notes..of the solitaire. |
6. A solitary beast of chase.
| 1900 Pollok & Thom Sports Burma iii. 96 Sportsmen following up a wounded solitaire [sc. a gaur] have occasionally been killed. |
7. attrib. Intended for one person only.
| 1885 Pall Mall G. 15 May 4/1 A variety of painted tea sets and solitaire breakfast sets. |
▪ II. † solitaire, -are, a. Obs.
Forms: α. 4 solitare (5 sola-); Sc. 5–7 solitare (6 sole-), 6 solitar, soliter(e, solyter. β. 4–5, 7 solitaire, 5 solytayr, 6 solitair.
[a. OF. (also mod.F.) solitaire or ad. L. sōlitārius: see solitary a.]
Solitary, in various senses.
| α 1382 Wyclif Ps. ci. 8, I..am maad as a spare solitare in the rof. c 1440 Alph. Tales 444 When þai hafe bene awhile in solatare place be þer ane. c 1475 Henryson Poems (S.T.S.) III. 33 Quhen he saw þis lady solitar. 1530 Lyndesay Test. Papyngo 956 Quhow lang, traist ȝe, those ladyis sall remane So solyter, in sic perfectioun? 1533 Bellenden Livy i. viii. (S.T.S.) I. 49 Numa frequentit oft tymes in þis wod, solitare and but ony cumpany. c 1614 Sir W. Mure Dido & æneas i. 796 How coms't thir costs thow solitare dost range? |
| β 1387 Trevisa tr. Higden VI. 109 An holy man þat was solitaire. c 1450 Knt. de La Tour 124 She made a chaumbre solitaire for this holy man. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 192/2 He no thynge desyred so moche as for to accomplysshe commaundementes solytayrs. 1549 Compl. Scotl. Prol. 9 He vas neiuyr les solitair as quhen he aperit to be solitair. 1569 Reg. Privy Council Scot. II. 39 He to be solitair, the nobill men..being for the maist part absent. 1647 H. More Song of Soul ii. App. 93 Ne further may my wary mind assent From one single experience solitaire. |