Part 414

Sin`gha*lese" (?), n. & a. [Skr. Sihala Ceylon.] (Ethnol.) Same as Cingalese.

Sing"ing (?), a. & n. from Sing, v.

Singing bird. (Zoöl.) (a) Popularly, any bird that sings; a song bird. (b) Specifically, any one of the Oscines. -- Singing book, a book containing music for singing; a book of tunes. -- Singing falcon or hawk. (Zoöl.) See Chanting falcon, under Chanting. -- Singing fish (Zoöl.), a California toadfish (Porichthys porosissimus). -- Singing flame (Acoustics), a flame, as of hydrogen or coal gas, burning within a tube and so adjusted as to set the air within the tube in vibration, causing sound. The apparatus is called also chemical harmonicon. -- Singing master, a man who teaches vocal music. -- Singing school, a school in which persons are instructed in singing.

Sing"ing*ly, adv. With sounds like singing; with a kind of tune; in a singing tone. G. North (1575).

Sin"gle (?), a. [L. singulus, a dim. from the root in simplex simple; cf. OE. & OF. sengle, fr. L. singulus. See Simple, and cf. Singular.] 1. One only, as distinguished from more than one; consisting of one alone; individual; separate; as, a single star.

No single man is born with a right of controlling the opinions of all the rest.

Pope.

2. Alone; having no companion.

Who single hast maintained, Against revolted multitudes, the cause Of truth.

Milton.

3. Hence, unmarried; as, a single man or woman.

Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness.

Shak.

Single chose to live, and shunned to wed.

Dryden.

4. Not doubled, twisted together, or combined with others; as, a single thread; a single strand of a rope.

5. Performed by one person, or one on each side; as, a single combat.

These shifts refuted, answer thy appellant, . . . Who now defles thee thrice ti single fight.

Milton.

6. Uncompounded; pure; unmixed.

Simple ideas are opposed to complex, and single to compound.

I. Watts.

7. Not deceitful or artful; honest; sincere.

I speak it with a single heart.

Shak.

8. Simple; not wise; weak; silly. [Obs.]

He utters such single matter in so infantly a voice.

Beau. & Fl.