late 14c., "having no companion, solitary, apart from any other," shortening of alone (q.v.) by weakening of stress or else by misdivision of what is properly all one. Used attributively, while the full form is used in the predicate. Compare live (adj.), from alive; colloquial 'long for along. The Lone Star in reference to Texas is first recorded 1843, from its flag when it was a nation. Lone wolf in the figurative sense is 1901, American English.
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