Etymology
From Middle English myle, mile, from Old English mÄ«l, from Proto-West Germanic *mÄ«liju, a borrowing of Latin mÄ«lia, mÄ«llia, plural of mÄ«le, mÄ«lle (“mileâ€) (literally ‘thousand’ but used as a short form of mÄ«lle passÅ«s (“a thousand pacesâ€)).
Noun
mile (plural miles)
- # A unit of measure (length or distance). The international mile: a unit of length precisely equal to 1.609344 kilometers established by treaty among Anglophone nations in 1959, divided into 5,280 feet or 1,760 yards.
- Turn left in 1.2 miles.
- A unit of length derived from the 1593 English statute mile of 8 furlongs, equivalent to 5,280 feet or 1,760 yards of various precise values.
- A Roman unit of measure equal to 1000 (double) steps (mille passus or mille passuum) or 5000 Roman feet (approx. 1480m).
- A track race of one mile in length; sometimes used to refer to the 1500m race.
- The runners competed in the mile.
- A great distance.
- The shot missed by a mile.
- (informal) One mile per hour, as a measure of speed.
- five miles over the speed limit
- (travel) An airline mile in a frequent flyer program.
Derived terms
- air mile
- a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
- a miss is as good as a mile
- mile marker
- miles away
- give them an inch and they'll take a mile
- talk a mile a minute
Credits
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