A portion or allotment of money, food, or other necessities given as charity or for maintenance. During the economic crisis, many families relied on the dole to make ends meet.
A government benefit paid to the unemployed. After losing his job, he applied for the dole to support his family.
Sorrow; grief, especially as expressed in lamentation (archaic or literary). In his ballad, the knight sang of the dole he felt for his fallen comrades.