(?), a. [OE. hole, hol, hal, hool, AS. hl well, sound, healthy; akin to OFries. & OS. h/l, D. heel, G. heil, Icel. heill, Sw. hel whole, Dan. heel, Goth. hails well, sound, OIr. c/l augury. Cf. Hale, Hail to greet, Heal to cure, Health, Holy.]
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1.
Containing the total amount, number, etc.; comprising all the parts; free from deficiency; all; total; entire; as, the whole earth; the whole solar system; the whole army; the whole nation. On their whole host I flew unarmed. Milton.
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-The whole race of mankind. Shak.
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2.
Complete; entire; not defective or imperfect; not broken or fractured; unimpaired; uninjured; integral; as, a whole orange; the egg is whole; the vessel is whole.
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-My life is yet whole in me. 2 Sam. i. 9.
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3.
Possessing, or being in a state of, heath and soundness; healthy; sound; well.
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-[She] findeth there her friends hole and sound. Chaucer.
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-They that be whole need not a physician. Matt. ix. 12.
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-When Sir Lancelot's deadly hurt was whole. Tennyson.
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Whole blood. (Law of Descent) See under Blood, n., 2. -- Whole note (Mus.), the note which represents a note of longest duration in common use; a semibreve. -- Whole number (Math.), a number which is not a fraction or mixed number; an integer. -- Whole snipe (Zol.), the common snipe, as distinguished from the smaller jacksnipe. [Prov. Eng.]
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Syn. -- All; total; complete; entire; integral; undivided; uninjured; unimpaired; unbroken; healthy. -- Whole, Total, Entire, Complete. When we use the word whole, we refer to a thing as made up of parts, none of which are wanting; as, a whole week; a whole year; the whole creation. When we use the word total, we have reference to all as taken together, and forming a single totality; as, the total amount; the total income. When we speak of a thing as entire, we have no reference to parts at all, but regard the thing as an integer, i. e., continuous or unbroken; as, an entire year; entire prosperity. When we speak of a thing as complete, there is reference to some progress which results in a filling out to some end or object, or a perfected state with no deficiency; as, complete success; a complete victory.
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-All the whole army stood agazed on him. Shak.
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-One entire and perfect chrysolite. Shak.
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-Lest total darkness should by night regain
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