Sim″ple (?), n. [F. See Simple, a.] 1. Something not mixed or compounded. “Compounded of many simples.” Shak.
2. (Med.) A medicinal plant; — so called because each vegetable was supposed to possess its particular virtue, and therefore to constitute a simple remedy.
What virtue is in this remedy lies in the naked simple itself as it comes over from the Indies. Sir W. Temple.
3. (Weaving) (a) A drawloom. (b) A part of the apparatus for raising the heddles of a drawloom.
4. (R. C. Ch.) A feast which is not a double or a semidouble.