Mile

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /maɪ̯l/
• Rhymes: -aɪl

Origin

From Old English mīl, from a Germanic borrowing of Latin mīlia, mīllia, plural of mīle, mīlle ("mile") (literally ‘thousand’ but used as a short form of mīlle passūs ("a thousand paces")). Cognate with Dutch mijl, German Meile.

Full definition of mile

Noun

1. A unit of measure (length or distance) equal to 5,280 feet (8 furlongs) in the U.S.Customary/Imperial system of measurements. One mile is equal to 1.609344 km. http://www.onlineconversion.com/length_common.htm
• 1893, Walter Besant, The Ivory Gate Chapter Prologue, Athelstan Arundel walked home all the way, foaming and raging. No omnibus, cab, or conveyance ever built could contain a young man in such a rage. His mother lived at Pembridge Square, which is four good measured miles from Lincoln's Inn.
• 1922, Michael Arlen, “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days Chapter 3/19/2, Ivor had acquired more than a mile of fishing rights with the house ; he was not at all a good fisherman, but one must do something ; one generally, however, banged a ball with a squash-racket against a wall.
• 2013-06-08, The new masters and commanders, From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much....  But viewed from high up in one of the growing number of skyscrapers in Sri Lanka’s capital, it is clear that something extraordinary is happening: China is creating a shipping hub just 200 miles from India’s southern tip.
2. A Roman unit of measure equal to 1000 (double) steps (mille passus or mille passuum) or 5000 Roman feet (approx. 1480 m).
3. A track race of one mile in length; sometimes used to refer to the 1500 m race.
   The runners competed in the mile.
4. (slang) A great distance.
   The shot missed by a mile.
5. (informal) One mile per hour, as a measure of speed.
   five miles over the speed limit

Derived terms

Anagrams

• Emil
• lime