whilien.
/ˈwʌɪli/, /ˈhwʌɪli/, U.S. /ˈ(h)waɪli/, Scottish English /ˈhwʌilɪ/ Scottish dialect.
A short time.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > duration > shortness or brevity in time > [noun] > a short or moderate space of time
weekeOE
littleOE
roomOE
stoundOE
startc1300
houra1350
furlong wayc1384
piecea1400
weea1400
speed whilec1400
hanlawhilea1500
snack1513
spirt?1550
snatch1563
fit1583
spurta1591
shortness1598
span1599
bit1653
thinking time1668
thinking-while1668
onwardling1674
way-bit1674
whilie1819
fillip1880
1819 J. Burness Plays, Poems 29 Master Clinton is out a whyllie syne.
1908 in A. W. Johnston & A. Johnston Old-lore Misc. I. iv. 183 After it was burned a whiley.
1920 J. L. Waugh Heroes 18 When ye've been a whilie here.
1951 N. M. Gunn Well at World's End xxiv. 214 ‘Be quiet!’ she said... ‘I just came for a whilie to see them.’
1981 G. Hammond Revenge Game vi. 55 The inspector's house..was let to a retired couple for a whilie, but they moved away up to Inverness.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1819