See Also: mile(encyclopedia)
mile(dictionary)
sea mile(medicine)
sea mile(dictionary)
mile(dictionary)
mile(medicine)
Royal Mile(dictionary)
Square Mile(dictionary)
Three Mile Island(dictionary)
nautical mile(dictionary)

mile (iou)



mile noun.
[Old English mil (fem.) = Middle Dutch mile (Dutch mijl), Old High German mil(l)a (German Meile), from West Germanic, from Latin mil(l)ia pl. of mil(l)e thousand.]
Orig., the Roman unit of distance of 1,000 paces, equal to approx. 1,618 yards; also, a unit of distance (varying widely according to period and locality) derived from this. Now (also statute mile), a standard unit of length and distance equal to 1,760 yards (approx. 1.609 kilometres). OE.
b. loosely & hyperbol. A great distance, amount, or interval. Freq. in pl. (adverbial), by a great distance, amount, or interval. L16.
E. M. Delafield I should have thought he'd be miles better than no one. J. Porter She was on the scrounge...You could spot it a mile off. Independent People will run a mile when faced with an..American wanting to talk.
c. A race over a distance of one mile. E20.
The time it might take to travel a mile. ME-L16.
Phrases: GEOGRAPHICAL mile. measured mile: see MEASURED 2. NAUTICAL mile. not a hundred miles from: see HUNDRED adjective. Roman mile: see ROMAN adjective. run a mile: see RUN verb. stick out a mile be extremely obvious.
Comb.: milecastle any of a series of forts erected by the Romans at intervals along a military wall, esp. Hadrian's Wall across northern England; mile-eater colloq. a fast driver or traveller; mile-mark a milestone or other object placed to indicate the distance of a mile from a given point; milepost a post or stone serving as a mile-mark.