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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

while away en · VERB

Meanings

  1. (transitive) To spend (time) idly but pleasantly.
    • Heaven knows what pains the author has been at, what bitter experiences he has endured and what heartache suffered, to give some chance reader a few hours' relaxation or to while away the tedium of a journey. 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter II, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:
    • A posse of Dublin Metropolitan police superintended by the Chief Commissioner in person maintained order in the vast throng for whom the York street brass and reed band whiled away the intervening time by admirably rendering on their blackdraped instruments the matchless melody endeared to us from the cradle by Speranza's plaintive muse. 1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 12: Cyclops]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 294:
    • It was then that Esste whiled away the time by answering Ansset's question. 1980, Orson Scott Card, Songmaster, page 41:
  2. (intransitive) To elapse, to pass.
    • The rest of the night hours whiled away for the prisoners as few slept. 2010, Lori Davis, Second Wind, page 65:
    • The hours whiled away and I steadily kept drinking, even though it had been years since I'd done any serious imbibing. 2015, Hank Carver, House of Cards: Five Full Contact Years as a Las Vegas Nightclub Bouncer:
    • As the hours whiled away, they discussed everything magical they had learned and how Odele had managed to become a Keeper and survive a full year without help or interference. 2018, Kester James Finley, Twisted Reunions (The Keeper Chronicles, Book 2):

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
whiled away Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
whiled away Tense=Past lexicographic
whiles away Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
whiling away Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
wile away alternative, misspelling lexicographic

Synonyms

kill · beguile

Translations (14)

sv fördriva (spend (time) idly) · ga meil (spend (time) idly) · pl relaksować się (spend (time) idly) · fi viettää aikaa (spend (time) idly) · pl leniuchować (spend (time) idly) · pl odpoczywać (spend (time) idly) · ru скорота́ть (spend (time) idly) · de vertrödeln (spend (time) idly) · cmn 消磨 (spend (time) idly) · or ଦିନ କଟାଇବା (spend (time) idly) · ru корота́ть (spend (time) idly) · de totschlagen (spend (time) idly) · de vertreiben (spend (time) idly) · el περνώ (spend (time) idly)