King James Bible Dictionary

SIM'PLE, adjective [Latin simplex; sine, without and plex, plica, doubling, fold; ]

1. Single; consisting of one thing; uncompounded; unmingled; uncombined with any thing else; as a simple substance; a simple idea; a simple sound.

2. Plain; artless; not given to design, stratagem or duplicity; undesigning; sincere; harmless. A simple husbandman in garments gray.

3. Artless; unaffected; unconstrained; inartificial; plain. In simple manners all the secret lies.

4. Unadorned; plain; as a simple style or narration; a simple dress.

5. Not complex or complicated; as a machine of simple construction.

6. Weak in intellect; not wise or sagacious; silly. The simple believeth every word; but the prudent looketh well to his going. Proverbs 14:15.

7. In botany, undivided, as a root, stem or spike; only one on a petiole, as a simple leaf; only one on a peduncle, as a simple flower; having only one set of rays, as an umbel; having only one row of leaflets, as a simple calyx; not plumose or fathered, as a pappus. A simple body, in chemisty, is one that has not been decomposed, or separated into two or more bodies.

SIM'PLE, noun Something not mixed or compounded. in the materia medica, the genral denomination of an herb or plant. as each vegetable is supposed to possess its particular virtue, and therefore to constitute a simple remedy.

SIM'PLE, verb intransitive To gather simples or plants. As simpling on the flowery hills he stray'd.

SIMPLE-MINDED, adjective Artless; undesigning; unsuspecting.

SIM'PLENESS, noun

1. The state or quality of being simple, single or uncompounded; as the simpleness of the elements.

2. Artlessness; simplicity;

3. Weakness of intellect.

SIM'PLER, noun One that collects simples; as herbalist; asimplist.

SIMPLESS, for simplicity or silliness, is not in use.

SIM'PLETON, noun A silly person; a person of weak intellect; a trifler; a foolish person.

SIMPLI'CAIN, noun An artless, unskilled or undesigning person. [Not in use.]