while

8 definitions found

while - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  While \While\, n. [AS. hw[imac]l; akin to OS. hw[imac]l,
     hw[imac]la, OFries. hw[imac]le, D. wigl, G. weile, OHG.
     w[imac]la, hw[imac]la, hw[imac]l, Icel. hv[imac]la a bed,
     hv[imac]ld rest, Sw. hvila, Dan. hvile, Goth. hweila a time,
     and probably to L. quietus quiet, and perhaps to Gr. ? the
     proper time of season. [root]20. Cf. Quiet, Whilom.]
     1. Space of time, or continued duration, esp. when short; a
        time; as, one while we thought him innocent. "All this
        while." --Shak.
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              This mighty queen may no while endure. --Chaucer.
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              [Some guest that] hath outside his welcome while,
              And tells the jest without the smile. --Coleridge.
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              I will go forth and breathe the air a while.
                                                    --Longfellow.
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     2. That which requires time; labor; pains. [Obs.]
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              Satan . . . cast him how he might quite her while.
                                                    --Chaucer.
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     At whiles, at times; at intervals.
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              And so on us at whiles it falls, to claim
              Powers that we dread.                 --J. H.
                                                    Newman.
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     The while, The whiles, in or during the time that;
        meantime; while. --Tennyson.
  
     Within a while, in a short time; soon.
  
     Worth while, 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.
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  While \While\, v. i.
     To loiter. [R.] --Spectator.
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  While \While\, conj.
     1. During the time that; as long as; whilst; at the same time
        that; as, while I write, you sleep. "While I have time and
        space." --Chaucer.
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              Use your memory; you will sensibly experience a
              gradual improvement, while you take care not to
              overload it.                          --I. Watts.
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     2. Hence, under which circumstances; in which case; though;
        whereas.
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     While as, While that, during or at the time that. [Obs.]
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  While \While\, prep.
     Until; till. [Obs. or Prov. Eng. & Scot.]
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           I may be conveyed into your chamber;
           I'll lie under your bed while midnight.  --Beau. & Fl.
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  While \While\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Whiled; p. pr. & vb. n.
     Whiling.]
     To cause to pass away pleasantly or without irksomeness or
     disgust; to spend or pass; -- usually followed by away.
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           The lovely lady whiled the hours away.   --Longfellow.
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while - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  while
      n 1: a period of indeterminate length (usually short) marked by
           some action or condition; "he was here for a little while";
           "I need to rest for a piece"; "a spell of good weather"; "a
           patch of bad weather" [syn: while, piece, spell,
           patch]

while - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  while
  
     <programming> The loop construct found in nearly all
     imperative programming languages which executes one or more
     instructions (the "loop body") repeatedly so long as some
     condition evaluates to true.  In contrast to a repeat loop,
     the loop body will not be executed at all if the condition is
     false on entry to the while.
  
     For example, in C, a while loop is written
  
     	while (<expr>) <statement>;
  
     where <expr> is any expression and <statement> is any
     statement, including a compound statement within braces
      "..".
  
     (1995-03-14)
  

while - Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :

  63 Moby Thesaurus words for "while":
     albeit, although, amuse, as far as, as long as, at which time,
     beguile, bit, brighten, chronology, continuity, day, divert,
     duration, duree, during which time, elbow grease, enliven,
     entertain, exertion, fateful moment, hour, howbeit, instant,
     interval, juncture, kairos, lastingness, lighten, meantime,
     meanwhile, minute, moment, moment of truth, pains, period, point,
     pregnant moment, psychological moment, psychological time, season,
     space, space-time, span, spell, stage, stretch, tense, term,
     the future, the past, the present, the while, tide, time, time lag,
     timebinding, trouble, when, whereas, whet, whilst, wile