while
Etymology
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Etymology
From Middle English whyle, from Old English hwīl, from Proto-West Germanic *hwīlu, from Proto-Germanic *hwīlō (compare Dutch wijl, Low German Wiel, German Weile, Danish hvile, Norwegian Bokmål hvile), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷyeh₁-.
Pronunciation- IPA: /ʍaɪl/, /waɪl/
while
- An uncertain duration of time, a period of time.
- He lectured for quite a long while.
- It’s a long while since anyone lived there, so it’s a ruin now.
- spell; see also Thesaurus:uncertain period
- (antonym(s) of “uncertain long period”): bit
- French: moment
- German: Weile, Weilchen diminutive, Zeitspanne
- Italian: periodo, po', lasso di tempo
- Portuguese: tempo
- Russian: вре́мя
- Spanish: mientras, rato
- During the same time that.
- He was sleeping while I was singing.
- Driving while intoxicated is against the law.
- 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter XII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC ↗:
- While the powwow was going on the big woman came back again. She was consider'ble rumpled and scratched up, but there was fire in her eye.
Although. - This case, while interesting, is a bit frustrating.
- While I would love to help, I am very busy at the moment.
- (Northern England, Scotland) Until.
- I'll wait while you've finished painting.
- As long as.
- While you're at school you may live at home.
- 1725, Isaac Watts, Logick: Or, The Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry after Truth, […], 2nd edition, London: […] John Clark and Richard Hett, […], Emanuel Matthews, […], and Richard Ford, […], published 1726, →OCLC ↗:
- Use your memory; you will sensibly experience a gradual improvement, while you take care not to load it to excess.
- (media, public policy)
- He was detained for four hours at the store yesterday. His crime? Shopping while black.
- (during the same time that) whilst; see also Thesaurus:while
- (although) as much as; see also Thesaurus:even though
- (until) till; see also Thesaurus:until
- (as long as) provided that, providing, so long as
- French: pendant que, tant, tandis que, alors que
- German: während, solange
- Italian: mentre
- Portuguese: enquanto
- Russian: пока́
- Spanish: mientras, siempre y cuando
- French: tandis que, bien que, quoique
- German: obwohl, obgleich, während, auch wenn
- Italian: malgrado, benché, sebbene
- Portuguese: embora, malgrado
- Russian: хотя́
- Spanish: aunque
- (Northern England, Scotland) Until.
- c. 1613, Thomas Middleton, William Rowley, “Wit at Several Weapons. A Comedy.”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC ↗, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
- I may be conveyed into your chamber; I'll lie under your bed while midnight.
while (whiles, present participle whiling; simple past and past participle whiled)
- (transitive, now only in combination with away; see also while away) To pass (time) idly.
- Synonyms: idle, laze, lounge
- I whiled away the hours whilst waiting for him to arrive
- 1839, Robert Folkestone Williams, The Youth of Shakespeare, page 184:
- Some were whiling the time by admiring the figures on the cloth of tissue.
- (transitive) To occupy or entertain (someone) in order to let time pass.
- (intransitive, archaic) To elapse, to pass.
- Alternative spelling or misspelling of wile.
- (loiter) see also Thesaurus:loiter
- German: vertrödeln (to dawdle)
- German: unterhalten, beschäftigen, (gemeinsam) die Zeit verbringen
- Italian: intrattenere
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.002
