while

Noun

WordNet 3.0

Noun (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”Synonyms: piece spell patch

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

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]

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]

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]

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

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]

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing

while loop until while

<programming> 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 (<expr>) <statement>;

where <expr> is any expression and <statement> 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)