whiles

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: wīlz, IPA^(key): /waɪlz/
• Rhymes: -aɪlz
• Homophone: wiles (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

Etymology

From while +‎ -s.

Adverb

whiles (not comparable)

1. (archaic or Scotland) sometimes; at times
2. (archaic or Scotland) meanwhile
   • (Can we date this quote by Sir Walter Scott and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     the good knight whiles humming to himself the lay of some majored troubadour

Conjunction

whiles

1. (archaic or dialect) while
   • c. 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act I scene ii^[1]:

     Portia: […] Whiles we shut the gate upon one wooer, another knocks at the door.

   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act IV scene i^[2]:

     for it so falls out, / That what we have we prize not to the worth / Whiles we enjoy it; but being lack'd and lost, / Why, then we rack the value, then we find / The virtue that possession would not show us / Whiles it was ours.

Noun

whiles

1. plural of while

Verb

whiles

1. third-person singular simple present indicative of while

---

Scots

Pronunciation

• enPR: wīlz, IPA^(key): /waɪlz/
• Rhymes: -aɪlz

Adverb

whiles

1. Sometimes

   Whiles thay gang tae the strand, but maistly tae the bens- Sometimes they go to the beach, but mostly to the mountains