While

8 definitions found

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

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

  While \While\, v. i.
     To loiter. [R.] --Spectator.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

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

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

  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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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  while
       n : 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: {piece}, {spell},
            {patch}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  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
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  while
       
           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 () ;
       
          where  is any expression and  is any
          statement, including a compound statement within braces
           "{..}".
       
          (1995-03-14)