v. [ad. L. condolēre (Tertullian, Jerome) to suffer greatly, suffer with, feel another’s pain. (Cf. F. condouloir.)]
I. intr.
† 1. To sorrow greatly, grieve, lament. Obs.
[1460–90. Cf. CONDOLENT.]
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., I. ii. 29. That will aske some teares in the true performing of it … I will condole in some measure.
1598. Tofte, Alba (1880), 119. For my Sinnes fore Heauen I do condole.
1650. Fuller, Pisgah, II. iii. 94. We cannot but condole, that the same persons were afterwards poisoned with hereticall opinions.
2. To grieve with; to express sympathy with another in his affliction. (The only extant use.)
a. 1603. Q. Eliz., Lett., in Hearne’s Collect. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), II. 189. We … have dispatched this Gentleman … to condole with you in the sense of your Love.
1661. Bramhall, Just Vind., ii. 15. To condole with them in their sufferings.
1710. Steele, Tatler, No. 114, ¶ 1. I contented myself to sit by him, and condole with him in Silence.
1784. Cowper, Lett., Nov. To condole with you on the death of a mother aged eighty-seven would be absurd.
1871. Morley, Voltaire (1886), 168. A man who writes a touching and pathetic letter condoling with a friend on the loss of his wife.
b. absol. To express condolence or sympathy.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., II. xxiii. 126. An Ambassador sent … to congratulate, condole, [etc.].
1777. Burke, Corr. (1844), II. 135. The tories are very eager to congratulate. It was not handsome of them not to condole on the ill-successes of last year.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Loom & Lugger, II. vi. 109. Three quarters of her acquaintance came to condole.
II. trans. Obs.
† 3. To grieve over, bewail, lament (misfortune).
1607. Hieron, Wks., I. 179. How tender-hearted the Lord is, and how he doth … condole our miseries.
1635. T. Cranley, Amanda (1639), 32. A grieved soule, That with repentance doth his sinnes condole.
1654. R. Codrington, trans. Hist. Ivstine, 496. He … somtimes would lamentably condole him, being slain.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa (1811), VII. 325. A person … whose sufferings I condole.
1788. New Lond. Mag., 9. His death was no less pleasing to one party than it was condoled by the other.
† 4. To express (formally) one’s sympathetic regret at (a misfortune). Obs.
1596. Danett, trans. Comines, 346. The Venetians Generall, sent the steward of his house thither to condole the late deceased Marchionesse death.
1685. Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), I. 332. They are sending hither ambassadors to condole the death of the late king.
1726. Wodrow, Corr. (1843), III. 329. He was sent … to congratulate King George the Second, and condole with him the death of his father.
1827. Sir H. Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. II. III. 143, note. Elizabeth had sent to condole the death of Frederick the Second.
† 5. To grieve with (a sufferer); to express one’s commiseration of or sympathy with. Obs. (Now supplied by 2.)
1588. D. Rogers, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., II. III. 151. Others which have condoled and congratulated the yonge Kinge.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., II. i. 133. Let vs condole the Knight.
1661. Petit. for Peace, 4. They … must either incur these sufferings, or condole them that undergo them.
1710. Addison, Whig Exam., No. 3, ¶ 4. They are comforted and condoled… by their fellow-citizens.
1779. Sylph, I. 6. They condoled me on my misfortune.
† 6. refl. To bewail oneself; to mourn. Obs.
1592. Daniel, Compl. Rosamond, 17. Condole thee here, clad all in black Despair.
1710. Steele, Tatler, No. 222, ¶ 9. It would be impossible … to condole himself long in that Situation, without really dying for his Mistress.
1767. Babler, I. 4. Should I fail in the attempt, I must condole myself with a line of my friend Horace.
