MILE

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does mile mean? 

• MILE (noun)
  The noun MILE has 8 senses:

1. a unit of length equal to 1,760 yards or 5,280 feet; exactly 1609.344 meters

2. a unit of length used in navigation; exactly 1,852 meters; historically based on the distance spanned by one minute of arc in latitude

3. a large distance

4. a former British unit of length once used in navigation; equivalent to 6,000 feet (1828.8 meters)

5. a former British unit of length equivalent to 6,080 feet (1,853.184 meters); 800 feet longer than a statute mile

6. an ancient Roman unit of length equivalent to 1620 yards

7. a Swedish unit of length equivalent to 10 km

8. a footrace extending one mile

  Familiarity information: MILE used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MILE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A unit of length equal to 1,760 yards or 5,280 feet; exactly 1609.344 meters

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

international mile; land mile; mi; mile; stat mi; statute mile

Hypernyms ("mile" is a kind of...):

linear measure; linear unit (a unit of measurement of length)

Meronyms (parts of "mile"):

furlong (a unit of length equal to 220 yards)

880 yards; half mile (a unit of length equal to half of 1 mile)

440 yards; quarter mile (a unit of length equal to a quarter of 1 mile)

Holonyms ("mile" is a part of...):

league (an obsolete unit of distance of variable length (usually 3 miles))

Derivation:

miler (a runner in a one-mile race)

miler ((used only in combinations) the length of something in miles)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A unit of length used in navigation; exactly 1,852 meters; historically based on the distance spanned by one minute of arc in latitude

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

air mile; international nautical mile; mi; mile; naut mi; nautical mile

Hypernyms ("mile" is a kind of...):

nautical linear unit (a linear unit of distance used in navigation)

Derivation:

miler ((used only in combinations) the length of something in miles)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A large distance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Context example:

he missed by a mile

Hypernyms ("mile" is a kind of...):

large indefinite amount; large indefinite quantity (an indefinite quantity that is above the average in size or magnitude)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A former British unit of length once used in navigation; equivalent to 6,000 feet (1828.8 meters)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

mile; sea mile

Hypernyms ("mile" is a kind of...):

nautical linear unit (a linear unit of distance used in navigation)

Derivation:

miler ((used only in combinations) the length of something in miles)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A former British unit of length equivalent to 6,080 feet (1,853.184 meters); 800 feet longer than a statute mile

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

Admiralty mile; geographical mile; mi; mile; naut mi; nautical mile

Hypernyms ("mile" is a kind of...):

nautical linear unit (a linear unit of distance used in navigation)

Derivation:

miler ((used only in combinations) the length of something in miles)

Sense 6

Meaning:

An ancient Roman unit of length equivalent to 1620 yards

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

mile; Roman mile

Hypernyms ("mile" is a kind of...):

linear measure; linear unit (a unit of measurement of length)

Derivation:

miler (a runner in a one-mile race)

miler ((used only in combinations) the length of something in miles)

Sense 7

Meaning:

A Swedish unit of length equivalent to 10 km

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

mil; mile; Swedish mile

Hypernyms ("mile" is a kind of...):

linear measure; linear unit (a unit of measurement of length)

Derivation:

miler (a runner in a one-mile race)

miler ((used only in combinations) the length of something in miles)

Sense 8

Meaning:

A footrace extending one mile

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Context example:

he holds the record in the mile

Hypernyms ("mile" is a kind of...):

track event (a footrace performed on a track (indoor or outdoor))

Derivation:

miler (a runner in a one-mile race)

miler ((used only in combinations) the length of something in miles)

 Context examples 

It was a quarter of a mile away when a thick squall of rain veiled it from view.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

When we had gone about a mile, I was tired with the heavy walking and sat down to rest.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

After they had travelled three miles they unloaded the sled, came back for her, and by main strength put her on the sled again.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

“When you know that the other day, when you said you would like a little bit of fish, I went out myself, miles and miles, and ordered it, to surprise you.”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It is a good seven miles from Eyford Station.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

We go very slow. Maybe in two, three hours we go one mile.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

As that chap said to-night, there are fifty-thousand miles of water-way runnin' through a forest that is very near the size of Europe.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

That village a few miles off?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Five or six miles from the lair, the stream divided, its forks going off among the mountains at a right angle.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I wish I was a horse, then I could run for miles in this splendid air, and not lose my breath.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)