Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A period of time.
  • noun The time, effort, or trouble taken in doing something.
  • conjunction As long as; during the time that.
  • conjunction In spite of the fact that; although.
  • conjunction But; however.
  • transitive verb To spend (time) idly or pleasantly.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A time; a space of time; especially, a short space of time during which something happens or is to happen or be done.
  • noun Time spent upon anything; expenditure of time, and hence of pains or labor; trouble: as, to do it is not worth one's while.
  • During or in the time that; as long as.
  • At the same time that: often used adversatively.
  • Till; until.
  • Synonyms While, Though. While implies less of contrast in the parallel than though, sometimes, indeed, implying no contrast at all. Thus we say, “While I admire his bravery, I esteem his moderation;” but “though I admire his courage, I detest his cruelty.”
  • At times; sometimes; now and then: used in correlation as while … while. Compare whiles, adv.
  • To cause to pass; spend; consume; kill: said of time: usually followed by away.
  • To occupy the time of; busy; detain.
  • To pass; elapse, as time.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • preposition Obs. or Prov. Eng. & Scot. Until; till.
  • transitive verb To cause to pass away pleasantly or without irksomeness or disgust; to spend or pass; -- usually followed by away.
  • intransitive verb rare To loiter.
  • conjunction During the time that; as long as; whilst; at the same time that.
  • conjunction Hence, under which circumstances; in which case; though; whereas.
  • conjunction [Obs.] during or at the time that.
  • noun Space of time, or continued duration, esp. when short; a time.
  • noun obsolete That which requires time; labor; pains.
  • noun at times; at intervals.
  • noun in or during the time that; meantime; while.
  • noun in a short time; soon.
  • noun worth the time which it requires; worth the time and pains; hence, worth the expense; as, it is not always worth while for a man to prosecute for small debts.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A certain duration of time, a period of time.
  • conjunction During the same time that.
  • conjunction although
  • conjunction Northern England, Scotland until
  • verb transitive To pass (time) idly.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a period of indeterminate length (usually short) marked by some action or condition

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English hwīl; see kweiə- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English hwīl, from Proto-Germanic *hwīlō. Cognate with Low German wil.

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Examples

  • Gibreel, with the Imam riding him like a carpet, swoops lower, and in the steaming night it looks as if the streets are alive, they seem to be writhing, like snakes; while in front of the palace of the Empress's defeat a new hill seems to be growing, _while we watch, baba, what's going on here?

    The Satanic Verses Rushdie, Salman 1967

  • Alexander, dum inter prīmōrēs pugnat, sagittā ictus est, _Alexander, while he was fighting in the van, was struck by an arrow_; dum haec geruntur, in fīnēs Venellōrum pervēnit, _while these things were being done, he arrived in the territory of the Venelli_.

    New Latin Grammar Charles E. Bennett

  • "I do not know -- but someday you and all in the world will see it, when the Earth people are kind to each other -- not once in a while, but every day -- _all the while_ --"

    Half-Past Seven Stories Robert Gordon Anderson

  • Even while we write, and for years back, a charge lies in the department of the Minister of Finance, against the present Premier of the Dominion, accusing that unscrupulous individual of conspiring with a whisky dealer, _while he himself was First Minister of the Crown_, to defraud the revenue -- a charge made by the present Assistant Commissioner of Customs and

    Ridgeway An Historical Romance of the Fenian Invasion of Canada Scian Dubh 1855

  • "Thou hast immanacled while Heaven sees good," he explains that "_while_ here has the sense of _so long as_."

    Among My Books Second Series James Russell Lowell 1855

  • I. i.33 (231,5) [be better employ'd, and be nought a while] Warburton explained [ "be nought a while" as "a mischief on you"] If _be nought a while_ has the signification here given it, the reading may certainly stand; but till I learned its meaning from this note, I read,

    Notes to Shakespeare — Volume 01: Comedies Samuel Johnson 1746

  • But I swear that she shall never marry him while I live, "he ended in a kind of shout and the domed and painted ceiling echoed back his words --" _while I live_ "after which the room was silent, save for the heavy thumping of his heart.

    A Yellow God: an Idol of Africa Henry Rider Haggard 1890

  • The court, however, sentenced Tuncel to 10 1/2 years in prison for a separate crime, his role in a bombing a McDonald's restaurant in 2004 in Black Sea port city of Trabzon and ordered his release from prison since he already completed his term while awaiting a verdict.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com AP 2012

  • The court, however, sentenced Tuncel to 10 1/2 years in prison for a separate crime, his role in a bombing a McDonald's restaurant in 2004 in Black Sea port city of Trabzon and ordered his release from prison since he already completed his term while awaiting a verdict.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com AP 2012

  • The court, however, sentenced Tuncel to 10 1/2 years in prison for a separate crime, his role in a bombing a McDonald's restaurant in 2004 in Black Sea port city of Trabzon and ordered his release from prison since he already completed his term while awaiting a verdict.

    The Seattle Times 2012

Comments

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  • Although.

    November 12, 2007

  • Whiling away, huh?

    November 12, 2007