worth while

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]

Worth \Worth\, a. [OE. worth, wur[thorn], AS. weor[eth], wurE; akin to OFries. werth, OS. wer[eth], D. waard, OHG. werd, G. wert, werth, Icel. ver[eth]r, Sw. v[aum]rd, Dan. v[ae]rd, Goth. wa['i]rps, and perhaps to E. wary. Cf. Stalwart, Ware an article of merchandise, Worship.] [1913 Webster]

1.Valuable; of worthy; estimable; also, worth while. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

It was not worth to make it wise.— Chaucer.[1913 Webster]

2.Equal in value to; furnishing an equivalent for; proper to be exchanged for. [1913 Webster]

A ring he hath of mine worth forty ducats.— Shak.[1913 Webster]

All our doings without charity are nothing worth.— Bk. of Com. Prayer.[1913 Webster]

If your arguments produce no conviction, they are worth nothing to me.— Beattie.[1913 Webster]

3.Deserving of; -- in a good or bad sense, but chiefly in a good sense. [1913 Webster]

To reign is worth ambition, though in hell.— Milton.[1913 Webster]

This is life indeed, life worth preserving.— Addison.[1913 Webster]

4.Having possessions equal to; having wealth or estate to the value of. [1913 Webster]

At Geneva are merchants reckoned worth twenty hundred crowns.— Addison.[1913 Webster]

Worth while, or Worth the while. See under While, n. [1913 Webster]