Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SIM'PLE, a. [Fr. from L. simplex; sine, without, and plex, plica, doubling, fold; It. semplice.]

1. Single; consisting of one thing; uncompounded; unmingled; uncombined with any thing else; as, a simple substance; a simple idea; a simple sound. – Watts.
2. Plain; artless; not given to design, stratagem, or duplicity; undesigning; sincere; harmless. A simple husbandman in garments gray. – Hubberd.
3. Artless; unaffected; unconstrained; inartificial; plain. In simple manners all the secret lies. – Young.
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. – Prov. xiv.
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 series of leaflets, as, a simple calyx; not plumose or feathered, as a pappus. – Martyn. A simple body, in chimistry, is one that has not been decomposed, or separated into two or more bodies.