The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

While \While\, n. [AS. hw[imac]l; akin to OS. hw[imac]l,
   hw[imac]la, OFries. hw[imac]le, D. wigl, G. weile, OHG.
   w[imac]la, hw[imac]la, hw[imac]l, Icel. hv[imac]la a bed,
   hv[imac]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.
      [1913 Webster]

            This mighty queen may no while endure. --Chaucer.
      [1913 Webster]

            [Some guest that] hath outside his welcome while,
            And tells the jest without the smile. --Coleridge.
      [1913 Webster]

            I will go forth and breathe the air a while.
                                                  --Longfellow.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. That which requires time; labor; pains. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            Satan . . . cast him how he might quite her while.
                                                  --Chaucer.
      [1913 Webster]

   At whiles, at times; at intervals.
      [1913 Webster]

            And so on us at whiles it falls, to claim
            Powers that we dread.                 --J. H.
                                                  Newman.
      [1913 Webster]

   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.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

While \While\, prep.
   Until; till. [Obs. or Prov. Eng. & Scot.]
   [1913 Webster]

         I may be conveyed into your chamber;
         I'll lie under your bed while midnight.  --Beau. & Fl.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

While \While\, v. t. [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.
   [1913 Webster]

         The lovely lady whiled the hours away.   --Longfellow.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

While \While\, v. i.
   To loiter. [R.] --Spectator.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

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.
      [1913 Webster]

            Use your memory; you will sensibly experience a
            gradual improvement, while you take care not to
            overload it.                          --I. Watts.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Hence, under which circumstances; in which case; though;
      whereas.
      [1913 Webster]

   While as, While that, during or at the time that. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

while
    n 1: 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: while, piece, spell,
         patch]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

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



The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

while loop
until
while

    The loop construct, found in nearly all
   procedural languages, that 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
   "..".

   A for loop, e.g. in the C language, extends the while loop
   syntax to collect pre-loop initialisation and loop-end logic
   into the beginning of the statement.

   Perl provides the "until" loop that loops until the loop
   condition is true.

   (2009-10-07)