Pronunciation Noun
while (plural whiles)
- An uncertain duration of time, a period of time.
- He lectured for quite a long while.
- spell; see also Thesaurus:uncertain period
- French: moment
- German: Weile, Weilchen diminutive, Zeitspanne
- Portuguese: tempo
- Russian: вре́мя
- Spanish: momento, rato
- During the same time that.
- He was sleeping while I was singing.
- 1948, Carey McWilliams, North from Mexico / The Spanish-Speaking People of The United States, J. B. Lippincott Company, page 25,
- While De Anza was exploring the Bay of San Francisco, seeking a site for the presidio, the American colonists on the eastern seaboard, three thousand miles away, were celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
- Although.
- This case, while interesting, is a bit frustrating.
- 2013 September 28, Kenan Malik, "London Is Special, but Not That Special ↗," New York Times (retrieved 28 September 2013):
- While Britain’s recession has been deep and unforgiving, in London it has been relatively shallow.
- (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.
- Use your memory; you will sensibly experience a gradual improvement, while you take care not to overload it.
- (media, public policy) Used to denote an individual experiencing racial profiling#English|racial profiling when performing a seemingly benign activity.
- 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
- Italian: malgrado, benché
- Portuguese: embora, malgrado
- Russian: хотя́
- Spanish: aunque
- French: tant que
- Spanish: en tanto que
- (Northern England, Scotland) Until.
- c. 1613, Thomas Middleton; William Rowley, “Wit at Several Weapons. A Comedy.”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: Printed for Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, OCLC 3083972 ↗, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals):
- I may be conveyed into your chamber; I'll lie under your bed while midnight.
while (whiles, present participle whiling; past and past participle whiled)
- (transitive) To pass (time) idly.
- The lovely lady whiled the hours away.
- Synonyms: idle, laze, lounge
- To loiter.
- Synonyms: hang around, linger
- (loiter) see also Thesaurus:loiter
- Russian: корота́ть вре́мя
- Spanish: vagar
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