whiles meaning (archaic): definition, etymology and quotations

whiles

adv

/(h)waɪlz/

Etymology From while (noun) + -s (adverbial suffix); compare whilst.

Scotland, Archaic sometimes; at times

Man, I've diverted myself whiles with the science of the stars, and can make a shape at calculating a nativity.1927, John Buchan, Witch Wood, published 1988, page 14:

the good knight whiles humming to himself the lay of some majored troubadour1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC:

conj

Etymology From while (noun) + -s (adverbial suffix); compare whilst.

Portia: […]Whiles we shut the gate upon one wooer, another knocks at the door.c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
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.1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]: