while
/ʍaɪl/ verb C2- To pass (time) idly. · I whiled away the hours whilst waiting for him to arrive
- To occupy or entertain (someone) in order to let time pass.
He/she/it whiles · Past whiled · Past participle whiled · -ing form whiling
Verb forms
- Base form
- while
- He/she/it
- whiles
- Past
- whiled
- Past participle
- whiled
- -ing form
- whiling
Phrasal verbs and expressions
From the library
It was worth while, truly,” added the young man with a melancholy smile, “to make war against the English for ten years, and to die in his bed at last, like everybody else.”
He seized a rope which Dantès flung to him, and with an activity that would have done credit to a sailor, climbed up the side of the ship, while the young man, going to his task, left the conversation to Danglars, who now came towards the owner.
“He entered the marshal’s apartment while I was there.”
We will leave Danglars struggling with the demon of hatred, and endeavoring to insinuate in the ear of the shipowner some evil suspicions against his comrade, and follow Dantès, who, after having traversed La Canebière, took the Rue de Noailles, and entering a small house, on the left of the Allées de Meilhan, rapidly ascended four flights of a dark staircase, holding the baluster with one hand, while with the other he repressed the beatings of his heart, and paused before a half-open door, from which he could see the whole of a small room.
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