mile Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a unit of length equal to 1,760 yards or 5,280 feet; exactly 1609.344 meters
    mi; stat mi; statute mile; land mile; international mile.
  2. noun a unit of length used in navigation; exactly 1,852 meters; historically based on the distance spanned by one minute of arc in latitude
    naut mi; mi; nautical mile; international nautical mile; knot; air mile.
  3. noun a large distance
    • he missed by a mile
  4. noun a former British unit of length once used in navigation; equivalent to 6,000 feet (1828.8 meters)
    sea mile.
  5. noun a former British unit of length equivalent to 6,080 feet (1,853.184 meters); 800 feet longer than a statute mile
    naut mi; geographical mile; mi; Admiralty mile; nautical mile.
  6. noun an ancient Roman unit of length equivalent to 1620 yards
    Roman mile.
  7. noun a Swedish unit of length equivalent to 10 km
    mil; Swedish mile.
  8. noun a footrace extending one mile
    • he holds the record in the mile

WordNet

Mile noun
Etymology
AS. mil, fr. L. millia, milia; pl. of mille a thousand, i. e., milia passuum a thousand paces. Cf. Mill the tenth of a cent, Million.
Definitions
  1. A certain measure of distance, being equivalent in England and the United States to 320 poles or rods, or 5,280 feet. ✍ 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.

Webster 1913