English edit

Etymology edit

From dole (sorrow; grief) +‎ -some.

Adjective edit

dolesome (comparative more dolesome, superlative most dolesome)

  1. doleful; dismal; gloomy
    • 1973, Toni Morrison, Sula, Chatto & Windus (1993), page 17:
      The grandmother [...] raised her under the dolesome eyes of a multicoloured Virgin Mary.

Related terms edit

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for dolesome”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)