while

During the same time that.

Conjunction

  1. During the same time that.
    • He was sleeping while I was singing.
    • Driving while intoxicated is against the law.
    • I lived in Ávila for two lustra while I was a child.
  2. Although.
    • This case, while interesting, is a bit frustrating.
    • While I would love to help, I am very busy at the moment.
    • While Britain’s recession has been deep and unforgiving, in London it has been relatively shallow. - 2013 September 28, Kenan Malik, “London Is Special, but Not That Special”, in New York Times, retrieved 28 Sep 2013:
  3. Until.
    • I'll wait while you've finished painting.
    • To dark is still used in Swaledale (Yorkshire) in the sense of to lie hid, as, 'Te rattens [rats] mun ha bin darkin whel nu [till now]; we hannot heerd tem tis last fortnith'. - 1873, Richard Morris, Walter William...
  4. As long as.
    • While you're at school you may live at home.
    • While there's quiet I can sleep.
    • Use your memory; you will sensibly experience a gradual improvement, while you take care not to load it to excess. - 1725, Isaac Watts, Logick: Or, The Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry after Truth, […], 2nd edition,...

Origin

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 and Norwegian Bokmål hvile (“rest”), Norwegian Nynorsk kvila (“rest”), Swedish vila (“rest”), Faroese and Icelandic hvíla (“rest”)) from Proto-Indo-European *kʷyeh₁- (“to rest”). Cognate with Albanian sillë (“breakfast”), Latin tranquillus, Sanskrit चिर (cirá), Persian شاد (šâd).

Synonyms

whilst as much as till provided that providing so long as as when while whilom

Antonyms

since until

Derived

build the plane while flying it do-while loop driving while black driving while Mexican fiddle while Rome burns fix the roof while the sun is shining get out while the getting's good make hay while the sun shines not while pussy's a cat quit while one is ahead sort-while-pick strike the iron while it's hot strike while the iron is hot while loop while one is about it while one is at it while we're young while you're down there

Noun

  1. 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.
    • Do the good that's nearest Though it's dull at whiles. - 1857, Charles Kingsley, [Letters and Memories]:

    Synonyms: spell space throw while

    1. An uncertain long period of time

      Synonyms: spell space throw while age aeon ages blue moon coon's age crow's age dog's age donkey's years eld eon eternity forever forever and a day interim interlude interval lifetime long haul long run meantime

    2. (Philippines) an uncertain short moment

      Synonyms: spell space throw while bit bat of an eye blink of an eye crack eyeblink flash glimpse half a mo instant jiff jiffy jot minute mo moment New York minute New York second no time sec second

Forms

whiles

Derived

after a while all the while awhile breathing while even a blind pig can find an acorn once in a while even a blind squirrel can find a nut once in a while even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every once in a while every once in a while for a while in a little while in a while meanwhile no while once in a while paternoster while the while the whole while wait-a-while while-ere whilere whiles whilst worth one's while worth while

Preposition

  1. Until.
    • I may be conveyed into your chamber; I'll lie under your bed while midnight. - c. 1613, Thomas Middleton, William Rowley, “Wit at Several Weapons. A Comedy.”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey...

Derived

nine while five

Verb in compounds, transitive

  1. To pass (time) idly.
    • I whiled away the hours whilst waiting for him to arrive
    • Some were whiling the time by admiring the figures on the cloth of tissue. - 1839, Robert Folkestone Williams, The Youth of Shakespeare, page 184:
    • Here in seclusion, as a widow may, / The lovely lady whiled the hours away, […] - 1863 November 23, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Student’s Tale. The Falcon of Ser Federigo.”, in Tales of a Wayside Inn, Boston,...

    Synonyms: idle laze lounge

  2. To occupy or entertain (someone) in order to let time pass.
    • They whiled them with such answere as suted to their purposes, and long adoe was made in weaving and unweaving Penelopes web, till the Spanish Armada was upon the Coast, and the very Ordnance proclaimed in their eares a...
    • He sat her on the corner of the carpenter's bench, and parried or diverted her questions about her father, and the desirability of wakening him by handing her the long curled shavings; and when these palled, he whiled...
    • In other worlds I whiled me now Through many a dark night long. - 2010, Dr Rudolf Steiner, Truth-Wrought-Words:
  3. To elapse, to pass.
    • The tedious hours whiled slowly on, 'till the succeeding afternoon, when the expected carriage made its appearance much sooner than they had promised themselves. - 1764, Mrs. Gunning (Susannah), Family Pictures, a...
    • Years whiled. He aged, sank, sickened; and was not: / And it was said, 'A man intractable / And curst is gone.' - 1901, Thomas Hardy, “A Man”, in Poems of the Past and the Present:

Forms

whiles whiling whiled

Derived

while away

Verb alt of, alternative

  1. Alternative spelling or misspelling of wile.
    • There it lies before me sparkling in the sun, whiling me as it often does from my pen or book to gaze upon its loveliness. - 1842, “Letters from Italy: No. 1 —Nice”, in The Dublin University Magazine, volume 19, page 47:
    • Perhaps the coziness of his seat, and the absence of the sun's rays from the side of the house where he was seated, had some agency in whiling him into a delicious sleep; - 1860, The Knickerbacker - Volume 56, page 593:
    • Upon the shelf before me stands, The Book that lured to distant Lands, That prompt my boyish wish to roam, And whiled me from my childhood's home. - 1880, Ann Bagwill Cuming, Night Thoughts and Day Dreams, page 10:

Forms

whiles whiling whiled