1. A person who lives in seclusion, solitude or retirement; a recluse.
1716. Pope, Lett. (1735), I. 153. How often … one Evening of your Conversation has spoil’d me for a Solitaire!
1764. H. Walpole, Corr. (1891), IV. 296. You see I am likely … to totter into a solitaire at three-score.
1797. Mrs. A. M. Bennett, Beggar Girl (1813), II. 111. Hoping the graceful solitaire there was already acquainted with the misfortune she dreaded to communicate.
1826. Disraeli, Viv. Grey, I. II. xi. 162–3 Oh! you ’re here! Mr. Grey, acting the Solitaire in the park.
1859. Capern, Ballads & Songs, 140. O blest retreat, green haunt of poesy, There I could dwell a studious solitaire.
2. A precious stone, usually a diamond, set by itself. Also ellipt., a solitaire ring.
a. 1727. Mrs. Delany, Life & Corr. (1861), I. 71. To give me the solitaires, which are at last arrived.
1760. Foote, Minor, II. Many an aigrette and solitaire have I sold, to discharge a lady’s play-debt.
1832. Marryat, N. Forster, III. xvi. 247. A labourer might find this diamond solitaire that ’s now upon my finger.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 6181, Shirt studs, sleeve links, clasps, solitaires.
1886. R. F. Burton, Arab. Nts. (abr. ed.), I. p. vii. I saw the evening star hanging like a solitaire from the pure front of the western firmament.
attrib. 1836. Marryat, Japhet, lviii. A diamond solitaire ring, which I had intended to have left with my other bijouterie. Ibid. (1840), Olla Podr., (Rtldg.), 239. The ring … was a splendid solitaire diamond.
3. A game that can be played by one person: a. One of various kinds of card-games. b. A game played on a board with marbles or pegs, which have to be removed by jumping as in draughts.
1746. H. Walpole, Lett. (1840), II. 165. Has Miss Harriet found out any more ways at solitaire?
1825. Bentham, Ration. Reward, 209. As the amusement of a minister of state,… a more suitable one might be found than a game at solitaire.
1850. Bohn’s Handbk. Games (1867), 556. It is, in fact, a sort of solitaire for each player in turn.
1891. Gosse, Gossip Libr., viii. 95. Like the boards on which people play the game of solitaire.
attrib. 1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, II. 17. I am moreover told that in the same second-hand calling were boards known as ‘solitaire-boards.’
1873. Routledge’s Young Gentl. Mag., Jan., 118/2. A ball belonging to a solitaire-board.
4. A loose neck-tie of black silk or broad ribbon worn by men in the 18th century.
1731. Gentl. Mag., I. 321/2. We have brought home the French Coifure, the Robe de Chambre of the Women, and Toupe and Solitaire of the Men.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 596. The beau, almost throttled in a large solitaire,… was thought to appear most charming.
1805. W. Cooke, Mem. S. Foote, II. 6. He exhibited a full dress suit, bag wig and solitaire, sword, muff, rings, &c.
1838. T. Hook, Sayings & Doings, Ser. II. Sutherl. (Colburn), 15. A gentleman dressed in a peach-coloured velvet coat, with … a solitaire round his neck.
[1882. Gosse, Gray, ii. 28. He ties a vast solitaire around his neck.]
5. Ornith. a. A large flightless bird (Pezophaps solitarius) formerly existing in the island of Rodriguez. Cf. SOLITARY sb. 3.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), VI. 20/1. The solitaire, or solitary dodo, is a large bird.
1863. Dana, Man. Geol., 578. The Solitaire is another exterminated bird of the same island.
1896. Newton, Dict. Birds, 892. Perhaps no species has had its osteology examined on so great a scale as the Solitaire.
b. A Jamaican bird (Myiodectes solitarius).
1847. Gosse, Birds Jamaica, 205. As far as I know, the food of the Solitaire is exclusively berries. Ibid. (1860), Rom. Nat. Hist., 18. The lengthened flute-like notes … of the solitaire.
6. A solitary beast of chase.
1900. Pollok & Thom, Sports Burma, iii. 96. Sportsmen following up a wounded solitaire [sc. a gaur] have occasionally been killed.
7. attrib. Intended for one person only.
1885. Pall Mall Gaz., 15 May, 4/1. A variety of painted tea sets and solitaire breakfast sets.
