Careful Words

single (n.)

single (v.)

single (adj.)

But earthlier happy is the rose distill'd

Than that which withering on the virgin thorn

Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): A Midsummer Night's Dream. Act i. Sc. 1.

Like two single gentlemen rolled into one.

George Colman, The Younger (1762-1836): Lodgings for Single Gentlemen.

Oh for a single hour of that Dundee

Who on that day the word of onset gave!

William Wordsworth (1770-1850): Sonnet, in the Pass of Killicranky.

So careful of the type she seems,

So careless of the single life.

Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892): In Memoriam. lv. Stanza 2.

And sure th' Eternal Master found

His single talent well employ'd.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784): Verses on the Death of Mr. Robert Levet. Stanza 7.