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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
While \While\, noun [AS. hw[=i]l; akin to OS. hw[=i]l, hw[=i]la, OFries. hw[=i]le, D. wigl, G. weile, OHG. w[=i]la, hw[=i]la, hw[=i]l, Icel. hv[=i]la a bed, hv[=i]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.
This mighty queen may no while endure. --Chaucer.
[Some guest that] hath outside his welcome while, And tells the jest without the smile. --Coleridge.
I will go forth and breathe the air a while. --Longfellow.
2. That which requires time; labor; pains. [Obs.]
Satan . . . cast him how he might quite her while. --Chaucer.
{At whiles}, at times; at intervals.
And so on us at whiles it falls, to claim Powers that we dread. --J. H. Newman.
{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.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
While \While\, preposition Until; till. [Obs. or Prov. Eng. & Scot.]
I may be conveyed into your chamber; I'll lie under your bed while midnight. --Beau. & Fl.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
While \While\, verb (used with an object) [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.
The lovely lady whiled the hours away. --Longfellow.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
While \While\, verb (used without an object) To loiter. [R.] --Spectator.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [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.
Use your memory; you will sensibly experience a gradual improvement, while you take care not to overload it. --I. Watts.
2. Hence, under which circumstances; in which case; though; whereas.
{While as}, {While that}, during or at the time that. [Obs.]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
while
noun: 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)
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