Mile

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Mile \Mile\ (m[imac]l), n. [AS. m[imac]l, fr. L. millia, milia;
     pl. of mille a thousand, i. e., milia passuum a thousand
     paces. Cf. {Mill} the tenth of a cent, {Million}.]
     A certain measure of distance, being equivalent in England
     and the United States to 320 poles or rods, or 5,280 feet.
     [1913 Webster]


  
     Note: The distance called a mile varies greatly in different
           countries. Its length in yards is, in Norway, 12,182;
           in Brunswick, 11,816; in Sweden, 11,660; in Hungary,
           9,139; in Switzerland, 8,548; in Austria, 8,297; in
           Prussia, 8,238; in Poland, 8,100; in Italy, 2,025; in
           England and the United States, 1,760; in Spain, 1,552;
           in the Netherlands, 1,094.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     {Geographical mile} or {Nautical mile}, one sixtieth of a
        degree of a great circle of the earth, or 6080.27 feet.
  
     {Mile run}. Same as {Train mile}. See under {Train}.
  
     {Roman mile}, a thousand paces, equal to 1,614 yards English
        measure.
  
     {Statute mile}, a mile conforming to statute, that is, in
        England and the United States, a mile of 5,280 feet, as
        distinguished from any other mile.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  mile
       n 1: a unit of length equal to 1760 yards [syn: {statute mile}, {stat
            mi}, {land mile}, {mi}]
       2: a unit of length used in navigation; equivalent to the
          distance spanned by one minute of arc in latitude; 1,852
          meters [syn: {nautical mile}, {mi}, {naut mi}, {knot}, {international
          nautical mile}, {air mile}]
       3: a large distance; "he missed by a mile"
       4: a former British unit of length once used in navigation;
          equivalent to 1828.8 meters (6000 feet) [syn: {sea mile}]
       5: a British unit of length equivalent to 1,853.18 meters
          (6,082 feet) [syn: {nautical mile}, {naut mi}, {mi}, {geographical
          mile}, {Admiralty mile}]
       6: an ancient Roman unit of length equivalent to 1620 yards
          [syn: {Roman mile}]
       7: a Swedish unit of length equivalent to 10 km [syn: {Swedish
          mile}]
       8: a footrace extending one mile; "he holds the record in the
          mile"

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Mile
     (from Lat. mille, "a thousand;" Matt. 5:41), a Roman measure of
     1,000 paces of 5 feet each. Thus the Roman mile has 1618 yards,
     being 142 yards shorter than the English mile.
     

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  MILE, measure. A length of a thousand paces, or seventeen hundred and sixty 
  yards, or five thousand two hundred and eighty feet. It contains eight 
  furlongs, every furlong being forty poles, and each pole sixteen feet six 
  inches. 2 Stark. R. 89.