Hypertext Webster Gateway: "mile"
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary (easton)
Mile
(from Lat. mille, "a thousand;" Matt. 5:41), a Roman measure of
1,000 paces of 5 feet each. Thus the Roman mile has 1618 yards,
being 142 yards shorter than the English mile.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Mile \Mile\, n. [AS. m[=i]l, fr. L. millia, milia; pl. of mille
a thousand, i. e., milia passuum a thousand paces. Cf. {Mill}
the tenth of a cent, {Million}.]
A certain measure of distance, being equivalent in England
and the United States to 320 poles or rods, or 5,280 feet.
Note: The distance called a mile varies greatly in different
countries. Its length in yards is, in Norway, 12,182;
in Brunswick, 11,816; in Sweden, 11,660; in Hungary,
9,139; in Switzerland, 8,548; in Austria, 8,297; in
Prussia, 8,238; in Poland, 8,100; in Italy, 2,025; in
England and the United States, 1,760; in Spain, 1,552;
in the Netherlands, 1,094.
{Geographical}, or {Nautical mile}, one sixtieth of a degree
of a great circle of the earth, or 6080.27 feet.
{Mile run}. Same as {Train mile}. See under {Train}.
{Roman mile}, a thousand paces, equal to 1,614 yards English
measure.
{Statute mile}, a mile conforming to statute, that is, in
England and the United States, a mile of 5,280 feet, as
distinguished from any other mile.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
mile
n 1: a unit of length equal to 1760 yards [syn: {statute mile}, {stat
mi}, {land mile}, {mi}]
2: a unit of length used in navigation; equivalent to the
distance spanned by one minute of arc in latitude; 1,852
meters [syn: {nautical mile}, {mi}, {naut mi}, {knot}, {international
nautical mile}, {air mile}]
3: a large distance; "he missed by a mile"
4: a former British unit of length once used in navigation;
equivalent to 1828.8 meters (6000 feet) [syn: {sea mile}]
5: a British unit of length equivalent to 1,853.18 meters
(6,082 feet) [syn: {nautical mile}, {naut mi}, {mi}, {geographical
mile}, {Admiralty mile}]
6: an ancient Roman unit of length equivalent to 1620 yards
[syn: {Roman mile}]
7: a Swedish unit of length equivalent to 10 km [syn: {Swedish
mile}]
8: a footrace extending one mile; "he holds the record in the
mile"
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