milen.1
/mʌɪl/, U.S. /maɪl/α. Old English mil, Old English– mile (rare), Middle English myl, Middle English–1500s mylle, Middle English–1600s myle, late Middle English meyll, 1600s mill, 1600s mille; English regional 1800s mahl (Yorkshire), 1800s moil (Cheshire); Scottish pre-1700 mail, pre-1700 mayll, pre-1700 meil, pre-1700 meill, pre-1700 meille, pre-1700 mil, pre-1700 mill, pre-1700 myell, pre-1700 myil, pre-1700 myile, pre-1700 myill, pre-1700 myl, pre-1700 myle, pre-1700 myll, pre-1700 mylle, pre-1700 1700s– mile.
β. early Middle English milen, early Middle English millen, Middle English milene (plural); Scottish pre-1700 milne, pre-1700 mylne.
1.
a. Originally: the Roman unit of distance of 1000 paces (mīlle passus or passuum), reckoned to have been about 1618 yards (approx. 1479 metres). Hence: a unit of distance derived from this used in the British Isles and in other English-speaking countries, and now equal to 1760 yards (approx. 1609 metres). Frequently with a prefixed numeral forming a phrase used attributively.The length of the mile has varied considerably at different periods and in different localities, chiefly owing to the influence of the agricultural system of measures with which the mile has been brought into relation (see furlong n.). It was fixed by statute at 1760 yards (viz. 8 furlongs of 40 poles, each pole being 16½ feet) in 1592 (Act 35 Eliz. I, c. 6, s. 8), and in Britain is also called a statute mile. This is also the legal mile in the United States. The obsolete Irish mile was 2240 yards (approx. 2048 metres), and the Scottish mile (obsolete by the late 19th century) was 1976 yards (approx. 1807 metres) although values probably varied according to time and place.
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the world > relative properties > measurement > measurement of length > [noun] > units of length or distance > mile
mileeOE
mile1632
mild1701
M1719
the world > relative properties > measurement > measurement of length > [noun] > units of length or distance > stadium (ancient Greek or Roman unit) > ancient Roman units
mileeOE
actusa1398
Roman foot1538
Roman mile1627
sextula1656
eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) ii. iv. 43 He [sc. the wall of Babylon] is l elna brad & ii hund elna heah, & his ymbgong is hundseofontig mila & seofeða dæl anre mile.
OE Blickling Homilies 129 Ac eac swylce Gerusalem þa burh, seo is west þonon from þære stowe on anre mile.
OE Antwerp Gloss. (1955) 139 Miliarium, leouue, mile.
lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough interpolation) anno 656 Swa þæt rihte weie .x. mile lang to Cuggedic.
a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 127 (MED) Se ðe net þe to gonne mid him twa milen, ga mid him þrie.
a1300 Shires & Hundreds Eng. in R. Morris Old Eng. Misc. (1872) 145 Engle lond is eyhte hundred Myle long from penwyþ steorte, þat is fyftene Mylen by-yonde Mihhales steowe.
c1300 St. Edward Elder (Laud) 48 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 48 Þat bote þreo Mile þanne it nas.
a1425 (a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) 7683 (MED) And þat ilka myle fully contene A thowsand pases or cubites sene.
a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 130 Kynge Pellynore was within three myle with a grete oste.
1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) v. l. 782 The Inglismen was than within a myill.
c1503 R. Arnold Chron. f. lxvi/1 v. fote make a pace. C.xxv. pace make a furlong and viij furlong make an english myle.
1557 W. Rastell in T. More Wks. II. 1419/1 Thre smal Miles from London.
1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1888) I. 27 The craig is a myl within the Sey.
1624 A. Huntar Treat. Weights & Meas. Scotl. i. 10 The English Myle is more than the Fundamentall, or Italian Myle of paces 56, of English yardes, 93 and 1 inch, and of Scottish measure 90, Elnes and 30, inches.
1655 T. Fuller Hist. Univ. Cambr. ii. 37 in Church-hist. Brit. An hairs-breadth fixed by a divine-finger, shall prove as effectuall a separation from danger, as a miles distance.
1678 E. Howard Man of Newmarket iv. i. 42 We have rode a four-mile Course with 'em in conceit too!
a1687 W. Petty Polit. Anat. Ireland (1691) 112 Eleven Irish Miles make 14 English.
1690 Duke of Marlborough in Ld. Wolseley Life Marlborough (1894) II. 213 A place called Macrom twelfe milles from hence.
1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 301 A great Tree, at about a quarter of a Mile from me.
1786 Goldsmith's Rom. Hist. (rev. ed.) II. 51 In this plain..were two little hills at about a mile distance from each other.
1794 R. Burns Red, Red Rose ii, in P. Urbani Select. Scots Songs 17 And I will come again, My Love, Tho 'twere ten thousand mile.
a1817 J. Austen Lady Susan xvii, in Wks. (1954) VI. 271 I think I should have discovered the truth in the course of a Thirty mile Journey.
1838 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece (new ed.) III. xx. 154 The channel between the two points is not quite a mile broad.
1850 C. Dickens David Copperfield xl. 416 I'd go ten thousand mile.
1864 G. O. Trevelyan Competition Wallah 30 The sun was low enough to allow me to venture on a six-mile walk.
a1878 H. Ainslie Pilgrimage to Land of Burns & Poems (1892) 184 A lang Scots mile was shortlin's past.
1885 R. Holland Gloss. Words County of Chester (1886) at Moil It's three moil to Knutsford.
1908 Daily Chron. 11 June 1/4 At this altitude of two miles above the ground her feet became entangled in the trapeze ropes.
1934 D. Thomas Let. c3 July (1987) 146 Sea half a mile off. Better sea four or five miles off. Lunatic asylum mile off.
1976 Daily Tel. 30 June 1/4 It was calculated that Thomas..was more than 1,200 miles out to sea.
1998 Chicago Tribune 27 Aug. i. 5/2 The processional stretched more than a mile and took two hours to reach All Saints Cemetery.
b. Used to render its etymological equivalents (formerly used as units of distance) in any of various (usually specified) European languages. In Italy (where there were many different such measures), Spain, and Portugal, the ‘mile’ was developed from the ancient Roman measure, and its length ranged between 7/ 8 and 11/ 4 English miles. In Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and the Scandinavian countries, on the other hand, the ‘mile’ seems to represent the ancient Germanic rasta (see rest n.1), to which the Latin name was apparently applied arbitrarily; its values ranged from about 3 to over 6 English miles.
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the world > relative properties > measurement > measurement of length > [noun] > units of length or distance > mile > equivalent in non-English countries
mile?a1425
German mile1550
?a1425 (c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 36 It is wel a .m viij & iiij. score myle of lombardye.
1484 W. Cely Let. 29 Feb. in Cely Lett. (1975) 200 The Dewke Maxymelyanys..lyethe styll wythyn iiij Dewche meyll off Brugys.
1538 T. Elyot Dict. at Rasta A duche myle.
1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 57 8. of these furlonges do make an Italian or Englishe mile, which beyng multiplied by 4. makes .32. furlonges, the length of a comon Germanie mile.
1582 S. Batman Vppon Bartholome, De Proprietatibus Rerum 528 Antiquitis hath taught, that the compasse of this earth containeth aboute, where it is widest, five thousande and foure hundred Germaine miles, or 21000,600, Italian miles.
1617 F. Moryson Itinerary i. 123 In the afternoone we passed five miles in six houres, through barren fields of corne, and groves of beech and haselnuts to Copenhagen.
1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. ix. 415 The Hungarian miles are the longest vpon earth, for euery one of theirs, is sixe of our Scots miles, nine English.
1711 Atlas Geographus I. 8 The Turkish miles are the same with the Italian.
1753 J. Hanway Hist. Acct. Brit. Trade Caspian Sea II. xxx. 180 These computed German miles are in some places 4, in others 5 miles English.
1803 C. Wilmot Let. 7 Aug. in Irish Peer on Continent (1920) 208 Each post is two German miles (ten English ones).
1876 Jrnl. Royal Anthropol. Inst. 5 280 Its [sc. the island of Lesina's] length from east to west is thirty-seven (Italian) miles.
1914 Jrnl. Polit. Econ. 22 513 Weight up to 5 kilograms (about 11 pounds):..Up to 10 German miles (46.1 English miles), 25 pfennigs.
1998 J. L. Heilbron Geom. Civilized v. 253 A suspicious earlier measurement involving a mountain 5.5 Arab miles high.
c. A race over a distance of one mile. Also: a portion of a race extending over a mile's length of the course.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > [noun] > types of race
quarter-mile1611
dead1635
diaulos1706
quarter1779
dead heat1796
match race1804
dash1836
sprint race1836
mile1851
road race1852
time trial1857
decider1858
all-ages1864
rough-up1864
hippodrome1867
distance running1868
team race1869
run-off1873
relay race1878
walk-away1879
title race1905
tortoise race1913
procession1937
stage1943
pace1968
prologue1973
1851 Internat. Mag. Lit., Art & Sci. 4 61 Pelham is a young horse for a trotter, say seven years old, and has already done the fastest mile ever made in harness.
1901 Daily Tel. 12 Oct. 10/2 Fourier..broke all automobile records... The time for the fastest mile was 66·4–5 sec.
1919 Outing Mar. 311/1 Frank rode the fastest mile of his entire career in 1914, when he covered the distance in 1:59 from a standing start.
1958 Observer 24 Aug. 18/2 Every year there is a supposed mile or 1,500 metres of the century. But to-morrow's race will be one of the great athletic spectacles of all time.
1966 A. Sachs Jail Diary vi. 58 The guards are used to my running; they think it is a big joke and tell me to enter for the mile.
1980 Morning Star 19 May 6/1 Seb is running in the mile, and I want to run in it too.
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the world > time > period > minute > [noun] > period of specific number of minutes
milec1275
mileway1370
ghurry1638
scruple1702
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) 5819 Þer innen heo runden ane lutle while, ne leaste hit na wiht ane mile.
c1300 (c1250) Floris & Blauncheflur (Cambr.) (1966) l. 513 Here kessinge ileste a mile.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iv. 689 (MED) Thogh I stonde there a myle, Al is foryete.
?c1450 Life St. Cuthbert (1891) 5059 For before a litil while, Noght þe space of half a myle.
a1500 (?c1300) Bevis of Hampton (Cambr.) 775 A long myle he soght, Or he the bore fynde moght.
a1500 (?a1425) Ipomedon (Harl.) (1889) 1466 (MED) He had not slepyd but a while, Not the space of a myle.
1595 E. Spenser Amoretti lxxxvii, in Amoretti & Epithalamion sig. F5 And maketh euery minute seeme a myle.
3. Chiefly in hyperbolic use.
a. A great distance, amount, or interval. Cf. a million miles at million adj. 2.
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the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > [noun] > (a) great quantity or amount
felec825
muchc1230
good wone1297
plentyc1300
bushelc1374
sight1390
mickle-whata1393
forcea1400
manynessa1400
multitudea1400
packc1400
a good dealc1430
greata1450
sackful1484
power1489
horseloadc1500
mile1508
lump1523
a deal?1532
peckc1535
heapa1547
mass1566
mass1569
gallon1575
armful1579
cart-load1587
mickle1599
bushelful1600–12
a load1609
wreck1612
parisha1616
herd1618
fair share1650
heapa1661
muchness1674
reams1681
hantle1693
mort1694
doll?1719
lift1755
acre1759
beaucoup1760
ton1770
boxload1795
boatload1807
lot1811
dollop1819
swag1819
faggald1824
screed1826
Niagara1828
wad1828
lashings1829
butt1831
slew1839
ocean1840
any amount (of)1848
rake1851
slather1857
horde1860
torrent1864
sheaf1865
oodlesa1867
dead load1869
scad1869
stack1870
jorum1872
a heap sight1874
firlot1883
oodlings1886
chunka1889
whips1888
God's quantity1895
streetful1901
bag1917
fid1920
fleetful1923
mob1927
bucketload1930
pisspot1944
shitload1954
megaton1957
mob-o-ton1975
gazillion1978
buttload1988
shit ton1991
1508 W. Dunbar Goldyn Targe (Chepman & Myllar) in Poems (1998) I. 191 New Acquyntance..fauouryt me, quhill men mycht go a myle.
1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost v. ii. 54 The Letter is too long by halfe a mile . View more context for this quotation
1762 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy V. xv. 68 Do you know whether my fiddle's in tune or no?.. 'Tis wickedly strung... The bridge is a mile too high, and the sound-post absolutely down.
1820 W. Irving Legend Sleepy Hollow in Sketch Bk. vi. 57 He was tall, but exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves..and his whole frame most loosely hung together.
1852 Punch 24 Jan. 42/1 The seven Wonders of a Young Lady... 5... Wearing shoes that were not ‘a mile too big for her’.
1987 Boxing News 21 Aug. 5/2 Boza-Edwards lost by a mile to Hector Camacho and was lucky to survive the first round.
b. In plural used adverbially. By a great distance, amount, or interval.
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1858 Atlantic Monthly Sept. 422/1 I knew well enough Major was miles and miles better and sweeter and cleverer than I was.
1869 L. M. Alcott Little Women II. xi. 166 The conversation was miles beyond Jo's comprehension, but she enjoyed it, though Kant and Hegel were unknown gods.
1889 J. Ruskin Præterita III. iii. 109 My eldest Irish pupil..was miles and miles my superior.
1932 ‘E. M. Delafield’ Thank Heaven Fasting i. iv. 65 I should have thought he'd be miles better than no one.
1958 G. Casey Snowball 34 They reckon station rations are miles better for everybody, now.
1987 R. Carver Elephant (1988) 111 Politically and temperamentally, they were miles apart.
4. Any of several similar units of distance used in making precise nautical or geographical measurements. Chiefly in compounds.geographical, maritime, nautical, sea mile: see the first element.For the history of the relationship between the mile and the degree see D. W. Waters Art Navig. Eliz. & Stuart Times (ed. 2, 1978). Because the earth is not a true sphere but flattened at the poles, the value of a mile defined as a minute of a meridian increases with increasing latitude, from approx. 2014 yards (1842 metres) at the equator to approx. 2035 yards (1861 metres) at the pole.
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the world > relative properties > measurement > measurement of length > [noun] > units of length or distance > mile
mileeOE
mile1632
mild1701
M1719
1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. viii. 362 Three hundred Maritine miles.
1669 S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. iv. 146 The distance between every one of the Knots must be 50 Foot; as many of these as run out in half a Minute, so many Miles or Minutes the Ship saileth in an Hour.
1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World x. 287 Italian or Geometrical miles, (at the rate of 60 to a degree).
1796 C. Hutton Math. & Philos. Dict. (new ed.) I. 530 Geographical Mile, which is the sea-mile or minute.
1834 Nat. Philos. (Libr. Useful Knowl.) III. Navigation ii. ii. 15 A geographical or nautical mile is 1/ 60 of a degree of a great circle of the earth.
1875 F. G. D. Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. (ed. 2) v. 201 The Nautical mile as defined by hydrographers is the length of a minute of the meridian, and is different for every different latitude.
1934 A. H. R. Goldie Abercromby's Weather (rev. ed.) viii. 133 Starting at midnight on the left of the diagram, we should have to go 60 geographical miles south and 90° east of longitude by 6 o'clock in the morning.
1966 Jrnl. Industr. Econ. 14 205 A modern oil tanker of medium size..on a voyage of 3900 maritime miles one way..stays in port for about three days.
2008 Vanity Fair May 272/2 The coastal states' territorial sea extended only 3 nautical miles, as far as a cannonball shot, until the Law of the Sea Treaty extended it to 12 miles in 1982.
Phrases
P1. colloquial. Chiefly in hyperbolic use. Cf. sense 3.
a. to see (also spot, tell, etc.) a mile off (also away): to recognize very easily.
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1638 R. Baker tr. J. L. G. de Balzac New Epist. III. 254 Hee smells a Barbarisme or an incongruitie seaven miles off.]
1773 P. Brydone Tour Sicily & Malta II. 80 The surest method of finding a Capuchin, is by the nose; you may wind him a mile off.
1809 W. Dimond Foundling of Forest i. i. 6 If they arrive before sun-set, I'm sure I Shall know L'Elair a mile off by the saucy toss of His head.
1837 R. H. Horne Cosmo de' Medici iii. iii. 50 You might know his walk a mile off. 'Tis exactly that of a gladiator who hath just killed His man.
1915 W. S. Maugham Of Human Bondage lxxiii. 378 That's rabbit, that is—that's not ermine... I'd know it a mile off.
1959 A. Sillitoe Loneliness of Long-distance Runner (1962) 126 You could tell a mile off that she was a struggler and that was what nobody liked.
1970 J. Porter Rather Common Sort of Crime i. 17 She was on the scrounge... You could spot it a mile off.
1995 K. O'Riordan Involved 192 I should have seen this a mile off.
b. a mile a minute: at a rate of a mile a minute; (figurative) very quickly.
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1845 Littell's Living Age 2 Aug. 223/2 The Exeter Express train..was proceeding towards Slough with great velocity, (it was asserted more than a mile a minute).
1895 Overland Monthly Nov. 556/2 The games in these localities often consist of snowshoe racing, and so great is the speed attained on a good track..that a mile a minute is made.
1935 C. Odets Till Day I Die in Six Plays (1939) 119 The next day he would be wearing a brown shirt and killing workers a mile a minute.
1951 E. Paul Springtime in Paris (U.K. ed.) xv. 287 Pierre Vautier, smiling, gesturing and talking a mile a minute to an attractive brunette.
1981 S. McAughtry Belfast Stories iii. 123 Away he went at the digging a mile a minute throwing the earth up..as if it was coming out of a hosepipe.
1994 i-D Oct. 32/1 He still talks a mile a minute and is as keen as ever to riff on his favourite topic: the movies.
c. miles away: (of a person) lost in thought and so unaware of the immediate surroundings; (of thoughts) on a different topic, distracted.
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1862 W. Collins No Name I. ii. ii. 293 ‘Mrs. Wragge is not deaf,’ explained the captain. ‘She's only a little slow... Speak to her—and she drifts miles away from you directly.’
1919 ‘C. Dane’ Legend 64 He had heard nothing... He was miles away.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses iii. xvi. [Eumaeus] 609 Bloom..picked it up..meaning to return it to him..whose thoughts were miles away from his hat at the time.
1969 A. La Bern Nice Class of People ii. 11 Ann Corrie had to repeat the sentence... He was miles away.
1989 B. Roche Handful of Stars i. i, in K. Harwood First Run 194 Jimmy, spying that Tony is miles away, tries to steal an extra shot.
d. miles from anywhere: in a very isolated, remote, or inaccessible place.
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1848 National Era (Washington) (Electronic ed.) 27 July You can hardly imagine what sort of a place I have got myself into here; just 45 miles from anywhere, shut up on three sides by tall mountains.]
1882 Cornhill Mag. Nov. 613 It might be miles from anywhere, so dense is the gloom, so great is the quiet that surrounds the place.
1929 Daily Mail 9 Sept. 7 The old boat ‘conked out’ miles from anywhere.
1935 N. Mitchison We have been Warned v. 527 It ought..to be made into a sanatorium... A damned inconvenient one..miles from anywhere.
1996 Wanderlust Oct. 66/2 If you stop to make a cup of chai a thousand miles from anywhere, the chances are that a ten-year-old lad will turn up with a flock of musical goats, or a girl out picking berries, or most likely, the local bhang dealer.
e. within miles (also a mile) of: (in negative contexts) close to; within striking distance; near enough to reach, attain, or achieve (something).
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1870 C. Dickens Edwin Drood xi. 82 I am so far from trenching upon poetry at any time, that I never, to my knowledge, got within ten thousand miles of it.]
1885 W. D. Howells Rise Silas Lapham xxiii, in Cent. Mag. July 360/1 Then I began to throw good money after bad, just as I always did with everything that Rogers ever came within a mile of.
1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer (1891) 282 Awful fuss always made about him. No swell within miles of him.
1943 J. B. Priestley Daylight on Sat. vii. 38 Not that the boys drew back..but..not one of them came within miles of being..Mister Right.
1973 L. Snelling Heresy i. vii. 52 The French technicians are all..very Lefty... He can keep them from getting within a mile of the set.
1986 Glasgow Herald 19 June 1/5 This project would not have come within a mile of being economically viable.
f. colloquial (originally Australian and New Zealand). to stick (also stand) out a mile: to be very prominent or conspicuous; to be obvious.
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1885 Bulletin (Sydney) 25 July 14/3 There was a fifty-pound note ‘sticking out’ a mile for him if he would have only pretended to box; but the Melbourne man couldn't see it.
1885 Wairarapa (N.Z.) Daily 30 Dec. I know the consequence, I can see it sticking out a mile!
1888 Morning Bull. (Rockhampton, Queensland) 8 Feb. 6/2 The precious metal is literally to be seen in every direction ‘sticking out a mile’, so to speak.
1933 E. Waugh Scoop ii. i. 119 ‘Have you noticed it?’ ‘Yes..it sticks out a mile.’
1937 D. Wheatley in Daily Ardmoreite (Ardmore, Okla.) 14 Feb. 10/5 One thing that stands out a mile is that there is a man on board this yacht who had far more reason to wish Blane out of the way than ever I had.
1977 ‘H. Carmichael’ Grave for Two iv. 48 ‘You're saying she's left him.’.. ‘Sticks out a mile.’
1990 R. Clay Only Angels Forget ii. 17 Don't be silly, Mother, of course he's gay. It stands out a mile.
1999 Mirror 15 June 30/2 In his bright red uniform he sticks out a mile in Chicago.
g. miles out: very inaccurate.
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1961 M. Kelly Spoilt Kill iii. 166 Freddy was miles out in alleging Corinna's coldness.
1964 C. Willock Enormous Zoo viii. 133 Ken Beaton's original estimate of the elephant, buffalo and hippo population had been miles out.
1974 D. Gray Dead Give Away ii. 28 ‘Aunt Milly's miles out,’ said Marion. ‘As usual.’
h. to run a mile (see run v. Phrases 2n).
P2.
a. to go (also walk, travel) the extra (also second) mile: to expend more time or effort in an activity than is strictly necessary, as a sign of goodwill; to be especially assiduous in pursuit of an objective.Originally an allusion to Matthew 5:41, ‘And whosoeuer shall compell thee to goe a mile, go with him twaine’ (King James Bible).
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1819 Durham County Advertiser 8 May That Christian.., who, when his liberty is assailed, instead of going the second mile, would pour out the last drop of his own blood, and that of his assailant, rather than go one rod?
1901 Cambridge (Mass.) Chron. 11 May 6/4 Beyond all that, love steps in and leads to all those little amenities which are just as sweet and precious after marriage as before, and we ‘go the extra mile’ in fulfilling love's demands.
1944 Mississippi Valley Hist. Rev. 31 492 Dr Coleman worked indefatigably for the historical interests of the state. One editorial writer..spoke of him as ‘ever willing to walk the second mile’.
1966 Mil. Affairs 29 207 The U.S. can go the extra mile to ensure that any future determination to employ, or not, nuclear weapons is left not to amorphous and desultory decision-processes.
a1979 J. Grenfell Turn back Clock (1983) 132 Working like a beaver Always with a smile Ready to take the rough and the smooth To go the extra mile.
1990 Independent 1 Dec. 1/2 I'm not hopeful we're going to get a lot out of this. We're just going the extra mile.
2008 Eyes Jan. 10/1 The businesses that survive and even prosper in a recession are those that go the extra mile when it comes to attention to detail.
b. In proverbial phrase give him (her, etc.) an inch and he'll take a mile and variants: the slightest concession will be unscrupulously exploited.A later form of give him an inch and he'll take an ell at ell n.1 1b.
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1837 R. W. Emerson Jrnls. IV. 313 Give them an inch, and they take a mile.
1869 Ladies' Repository Feb. 153/2 Give them an inch and they will take a mile. Allow them the privilege and they will make your home beautiful.
1928 R. Maury Wars of Godly 52 George III was bitterly opposed to granting the catholics another inch, entertaining, as he did, the presentiment that they would take the proverbial mile.
1991 M. Kilby Man at Sharp End 215 The President had given Mueller an inch, but he had already taken a mile.
Compounds
C1.
a. General attributive, designating the length of a course or journey, as mile-course, mile race, etc.
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1889 Engineer 15 Nov. 413 A measured mile course was laid off by unreeling from an anchored stake buoy one mile of fine wire.
1903 Motor. Ann. 163 In the mile race the fastest timers in the different classes were [etc.].
1928 Sunday Express 17 June 20/3 I venture the opinion that he would readily back-mark any man in Scotland over a mile course.
1991 Sports Illustr. 13 May 22/3 Strike the Gold broke his maiden in his third and final start last year, winning a mile race on Nov. 15 at Aqueduct.
b. Frequently hyperbolically.
(a) Combined with adjectives.
mile-deep adj.
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1862 Littell's Living Age 26 July 146/2 The tide-waves, whispering evermore To rocks and sands the ocean-lore. Lore of many a mile-deep sea.
1903 R. Kipling in Collier's Weekly 7 Mar. 8/1 The locusts' mile-deep swarm.
1994 Washington Post 3 July e4/1 Some whoop with surprised delight; others are stunned into silence; and more than a few grasp the protective railing tightly in fear as they gape at the mile-deep drop-off at their feet.
mile-high adj.
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1834 E. Elliott Spirits & Men in Splendid Village I. 220 How like an eagle, from his mile-high rock, Down sweeps the Gihon, smitten into mist On groaning crags.
1942 National Geographic Mag. June p. viii (advt.) Climb the mile-high peaks of the Great Smoky Mountains.
1963 J. Lusby in ‘B. James’ Austral. Short Stories 229 A black speck raced towards me along the rim of a mile-high blood-red cliff of cumulus.
1989 Bon Appetit Sept. 72/1 Pretty mile-high whipped cream cake with fresh fruit.
mile-long adj. (also miles-long)
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1813 Ld. Byron Let. 12 Nov. (1974) III. 163 I hope the proof will be on separate pages, and not all huddled together on a mile-long ballad-singing sheet.
1936 Discovery Jan. 15/2 One of the miles-long East Coast beaches.
1982 A. Barr & P. York Official Sloane Ranger Handbk. 50/2 No mile-long knitting, no ‘college’ scarves.
mile-wide adj.
ΚΠ
1820 E. Elliott Peter Faultless 107 He star'd with eyes mile-wide, or more.
1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits ii. 35 In our graveyards we scoop a pit, but this aggressive water opens mile-wide pits and chasms, and makes a mouthful of a fleet.
1903 R. Kipling Five Nations 56 I heard the mile-wide mutterings of unimagined rivers.
1991 P. J. O'Rourke Parl. of Whores (1992) 171 His troops had used ‘proportional response’. That is, they didn't soften up positions with mile-wide artillery barrages or huge air strikes.
(b) Combined with present participles.
mile-consuming adj.
ΚΠ
1932 W. Faulkner Light in August i. 8 He drove on, the wagon beginning to fall into its slow and mileconsuming clatter.
(c) Also rarely in attributive or adjectival uses of adverbial phrases.
mile-away adj.
ΚΠ
1897 R. Kipling Captains Courageous iv, in McClure's Mag. Jan. 226/2 The tiny black buoy-flag on the shoulder of a mile-away swell.
mile-off adj. (also miles-off)
ΚΠ
1870 R. Broughton Red as Rose I. 140 The rooks..have flapped heavily home to the mile-off rookery.
1881 T. Hardy Laodicean III. v. v. 61 There was the same miles-off expression in hers [sc. her eyes].
1968 H. Porter Elijah's Ravens 32 He..rounds up red-field sand to kalsomine tomorrow's miles-off privet.
C2. † mile-heat n. Obsolete a heat of a one-mile race.† mile-hunter n. Obsolete rare a cyclist who is intent on covering great distances.
mile-eater n. colloquial a fast driver or traveller (cf. to eat up 7 at eat v. Phrasal verbs).
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > driving or operating a vehicle > driver or operator of vehicle > [noun] > fast
Jehu1682
mile-eater1908
hell driver1934
1908 Westm. Gaz. 20 Aug. 12/1 These mile-eaters go early to bed and prefer their steam~horses to our live ones.
1957 S. Moss In Track of Speed i. 9 The driver himself must possess those faculties which go to make the expert mile-eater.
1998 Cycling & Mountain Biking Today Apr. 77/2 The Audax is the ultimate fast tourer, designed for mile-eaters with light loads and vast distances to cover.
mile-fortlet n. Roman History any of a series of small fortifications erected along the Cumbrian coast at approximately one-mile intervals.
ΚΠ
1929 R. G. Collingwood in Trans. Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archæol. Soc. 29 153 Future study of these sites [on the Cumberland coast]..should be devoted..to discriminating between small buildings resembling the turrets of the Wall [sc. Hadrian's Wall] and larger buildings resembling its milecastles, which I here call fortlets.]
1948 Trans. Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archæol. Soc. 47 78 The coastal mile-fortlet at Cardurnock.
1990 Antiquaries Jrnl. 70 134/1 Presumably reflecting the much smaller scale of the map base used, only the mile fortlets are included for the Cumberland coast.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > horse racing > [noun] > types of racing > types of race
wild-goose race1594
wild goose chase1597
bell-course1607
Palio1673
stake1696
paddock course1705
handicap1751
by-match1759
pony race1765
give and take plate1769
sweepstake1773
steeplechase1793
mile-heat1802
steeple race1809
welter1820
trotting-race1822
scurry1824
walkover1829
steeple hunt1831
set-to1840
sky race1840
flat race1848
trot1856
grind1857
feeler1858
nursery1860
waiting race1868
horse-trot1882
selling plate1888
flying milea1893
chase1894
flying handicap1894
prep1894
selling race1898
point-to-point1902
seller1922
shoo-in1928
daily double1930
bumper1946
selling chase1965
tiercé1981
1802 N. Macon Let. 10 Sept. in Papers of John Steele (1924) I. 315 He says there are no regular Mile heats at that turf.
1877 Spirit of Times 24 Nov. 438/3 Monsieur Tonson was never beaten except once, in mile heats, when he was only two years old.
Mile High Club n. (also mile high club) humorous (originally U.S.) an imaginary association of people who have had sexual intercourse while travelling in an aircraft.
ΚΠ
1972 ‘J. W. Wells’ Come fly with Us 41 Jokes about the Mile-High Club, about balling pilots in the cockpit or passengers in the toilet.
1999 J. Lloyd & E. Rees Come Together viii. 213 I'd even gone as far as assuming that we'd have sex in the toilets and join the Mile High Club.
mile-horse n. rare a horse trained to race over the mile distance.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > horse racing > [noun] > horse by performance
lightweight1773
sticker1779
maiden1807
favourite1813
mile-horse1829
outsider1836
heavyweight1857
stayer1862
stoner1862
rank outsider1869
pick1872
pot1874
timer1881
resurrectionist1883
short head1883
pea1888
cert1889
stiffa1890
wrong 'un1889
on the mark1890
place horse1890
top-weight1892
miler1894
also-ran1895
selection1901
loser1902
hotpot1904
roughie1908
co-favourite1922
readier1922
springer1922
fav1935
scratch1938
no-hoper1943
shoo-in1950
scorer1974
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > horse defined by purpose used for > [noun] > racehorse > in specific kind of race
plate horse1740
flat1811
mile-horse1829
steeplechaser1839
plater1859
all-ages1864
trace-mate1880
chaser1884
flat-racer1886
handicapper1890
miler1894
point-to-pointer1929
1829 Sporting Mag. 23 266 As to the mile horses, I spoke of rackers, and not of trotters.
ΚΠ
1897 Earl of Suffolk et al. Encycl. Sport I. 270/2 En route—Do not degenerate into a ‘mile-hunter’.
mile marker n. chiefly U.S. = milepost n.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > aspects of travel > guidance in travel > [noun] > that which guides or leads > milestone or post
mile mark1610
milliary1610
milestonea1746
milepost1768
mile marker1962
1962 Science 28 Dec. 1407/1 Something of a mile-marker has been reached in the area of testing and applying quantum theory.
1977 Washington Post (Nexis) 12 May b1 I saw that mile marker coming and I kept on running and in my head the music was playing. I crossed that mile marker on the fly and I haven't felt anything like it since I hit a home run.
1997 Courier-Jrnl. (Louisville, Kentucky) 24 Jan. b2/4 If the address is not readily available, look for landmarks, mile markers and the nearest intersection or highway exit to help guide rescuers.
milepath n. poetic a road, spec. one with milestones or (perhaps in Old English) †a road so long as to be measured in miles (obsolete).
ΚΠ
OE Exodus 171 Hwilum of þam werode wlance þegnas mæton milpaðas meara bogum.
1881 F. T. Palgrave Visions of Eng. 2 Her [sc. Rome's] hand With network milepaths binding plain and hill, Arterialized the land.
milepost n. a marker indicating the route and often distance to another point (frequently one of a series, regularly spaced); spec. a point or marker one mile from the finish of a race, etc.; figurative, an action or event marking a significant change or stage in development.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > aspects of travel > guidance in travel > [noun] > that which guides or leads > milestone or post
mile mark1610
milliary1610
milestonea1746
milepost1768
mile marker1962
1768 in Maryland Hist. Mag. (1907) 2 317 As we returned (besides the Mile Posts) we erected Marks on the Tops of all the High Ridges.
1812 Sporting Mag. 39 50 Beal headed Wood at every mile-post.
1899 Atlantic Monthly Dec. 752/2 The mileposts they set up on the road to better things will guide another generation to the goal, however the present may go astray.
1926 G. Ade Let. 29 Aug. (1973) 107 The day in 1894 when the editor put me in charge of a department was an important mile post.
1954 R. D. Burnell Oxf. & Cambr. Boat Race vi. 116 Cambridge led at once... At the Mile Post they led by seven seconds.
1987 G. Turner Sea & Summer 165 That recession was a historical milepost.
mile-posted adj. rare provided with mileposts (in quot. figurative).
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > aspects of travel > guidance in travel > [adjective] > marked or signposted > indicated by mile-posts
mile-posted1896
1896 ‘M. Twain’ in Harper's Mag. Jan. 294/2 The road was mile-posted with English fortresses, so to speak.
mile-square n. and adj. [compare square adj. 5] (a) n. a square mile (rare); (b) adj. having the extent of a square mile, covering a square mile.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > measurement > measurement of area > [noun] > a space measuring so much each way > a square mile
mile-square1754
square mile1868
1754 J. Edwards Careful Enq. Freedom of Will iv. viii. 242 'Tis equally improper, to talk of Months and Years of the divine Existence, and Mile-squares of Deity.
1842 J. Wilson Recreations Christopher North III. 337 A mile-square hover of crows darkens air and earth.
1872 ‘M. Twain’ Roughing It lxxiv. 534 The greater part of the vast floor of the desert under us was as black as ink,..but over a mile square of it was..striped with a thousand branching streams of liquid and gorgeously brilliant fire!
1940 K. Rexroth In what Hour 15 Crossing the brilliant mile-square meadow Illuminated with asters and cyclamen.
1988 H. T. Hoover Yankton Sioux ii. 39 The southwest corner of Greenwood..local residents called mile-square housing because it was situated on the section or square mile of land that contained the agency.
1993 N.Y. Times 28 Nov. viii. 9/4 Deer are often seen in the open in mile-square ditched fields.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
† milen.2
α. Old English miil, Old English mil, Middle English–1500s myle, Middle English–1500s (1700s Scottish) mile.
β. Middle English milie, Middle English mylie.
γ. Middle English milde, Middle English myld, Middle English mylde.
Obsolete.
= millet n.1 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > cereal, corn, or grain > [noun] > millet > millet plant
mileeOE
miliuma1382
millet1577
hirse1578
eOE Corpus Gloss. (1890) 78/2 Milium, miil.
eOE Cleopatra Gloss. in W. G. Stryker Lat.-Old Eng. Gloss. in MS Cotton Cleopatra A.III (Ph.D. diss., Stanford Univ.) (1951) 298 Milium, mil.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Isa. xxviii. 25 Barly and myle and ficche [L. viciam].
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 235v Mile is an herbe wiþ a longe stalke.
a1425 (c1384) Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Corpus Oxf.) (1850) Ezek. iv. 9 Take thou to thee whete, and barli, and bene, and lent, and mylie.
tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) i. 722 (MED) Eek myld is good [for geese].
1562 W. Turner 2nd Pt. Herball f. 40 Lithospermon..is called gray mil..to put a difference betwene it and the other mile or millet.
1568 W. Turner Herbal iii. Pref. Myle called in Duche Herse, in Latin Milium.
a1722 J. Lauder Jrnls. (1900) 89 Lentils, the seeds rise and mile growes abundantly towards Saumer.
Compounds
mile-seed n. = millet seed n.
ΚΠ
c1470 (?1458) W. Wey Itineraries (1857) 6 (MED) By yow a cage for half a dosen of hennys..and by yow half a buschel of myle sede..for hem.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
† milev.
Obsolete. rare.
transitive. Perhaps: to enclose or fence in. Only as past participle.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > enclosing or enclosure > enclose [verb (transitive)] > with a fence or hedge
haya1050
frith1377
hain14..
hedgea1425
fence1435
tinec1440
bara1500
mound1515
fence1535
teen1616
mile1655
picket1745
ring-fence1761
zariba1885
1655 T. Fuller Antheologia 80 Whereas all Tempe is defaced, this Garden still surviveth in some tolerable condition of prosperity, and we especially miled about, are fenced from forraign foes, better then the rest.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online September 2018).
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n.1eOE
n.2eOEv.1655