I. dole 1 /dəʊl $ doʊl/ BrE AmE noun [uncountable] informal
1 . British English money given by the government in Britain to people who are unemployed
be/go on the dole (=be unemployed and receiving money from the government)
Too many young people are still on the dole.
The number claiming dole went up by 3,500.
2 . the dole queue/dole queues British English the number of people who are unemployed and claiming money from the government, or a line of people waiting to claim this money each week:
As two factories closed today, 500 people joined the dole queue.
Dole queues lengthened.
3 . the dole American English money given by the government in the US to people who need financial help SYN welfare
on the dole
How many people are on the public dole?
II. dole 2 BrE AmE verb
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: dal 'part, share' ]
dole something ↔ out phrasal verb informal
to give something such as money, food, advice etc to more than one person
dole something ↔ out to
Vera was doling out candy to all the kids.