somewhile
adv/ˈsʌmʍaɪl/ · /ˈsʌmwaɪl/
Etymology From Middle English summehwile, summewile, sumwile, equivalent to some + while. Compare Dutch somwijlen (“sometimes”).
1
Poetic Sometimes; from time to time; at times
2
Poetic At a certain time; at one time; for a non-defined length of time
- Tho, under colour of shepeheards, somewhile / There crept in wolves, ful of fraude and guile.1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “May. Ægloga Quinta.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Iohn Wolfe for Iohn Harrison the yonger, […], →OCLC:
- Of him that spoke, and stopped at last, and sat Still, underneath where Gris Grillon was laid, And heard, somewhile, with languid scornful gaze, The friar putting blame on priest and knight.1868, Sidney Lanier, The Jacquerie. A Fragment, Chapter IV:
1 more example
- Somewhile before the dawn I rose, and stept Softly along the dim way to your room, And found you sleeping in the quiet gloom1915, Rupert Brooke, A Memory (poem):
- Derived terms
- somewhiles
- Coordinate terms
- otherwhile