Obs. Forms: α. 4 solitare (5 sola-); Sc. 5–7 solitare (6 sole-), 6 solitar, soliter(e, solyter. β. 4–5, 7 solitaire, 5 solytayr, 6 solitair. [a. OF. (also mod.F.) solitaire or ad. L. sōlitārius: see SOLITARY a.] Solitary, in various senses.
α. 1382. Wyclif, Ps. ci. 8. I … am maad as a spare solitare in the rof.
c. 1440. Alph. Tales, 444. When þai hafe bene awhile in solatare place be þer ane.
c. 1475. Henryson, Poems (S.T.S.), III. 33. Quhen he saw þis lady solitar.
1530. Lyndesay, Test. Papyngo, 956. Quhow lang, traist ȝe, those ladyis sall remane So solyter, in sic perfectioun?
1533. Bellenden, Livy, I. viii. (S.T.S.), I. 49. Numa frequentit oft tymes in his wod, solitare and but ony cumpany.
c. 1614. Sir W. Mure, Dido & Æneas, I. 796. How coms’t thir costs thow solitare dost range?
β. 1387. Trevisa, trans. Higden, VI. 109. An holy man þat was solitaire.
a. 1450. Knt. de la Tour, 124. She made a chaumbre solitaire for this holy man.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 192/2. He no thynge desyred so moche as for to accomplysshe commaundementes solytayrs.
1549. Compl. Scotl., Prol. 9. He vas neiuyr les solitair as quhen he aperit to be solitair.
1569. Reg. Privy Council Scot., II. 39. He to be solitair, the nobill men … being for the maist part absent.
1647. H. More, Song of Soul, II. App. 93. Ne further may my wary mind assent From one single experience solitaire.
