喜樂美語

核心畫面

A stretch of time — a span between one moment and another. Hold a length of time in your hand: 'while' marks that span, whether you name it (a while = a period), live inside it (while it rains = during that span), or fill it (while away the afternoon).

可以想成：while 的核心比較像「一段被框出來的時間」——從某一刻到某一刻之間的那一截。你可以把它想成手裡握著一條…更多收起可以想成：while 的核心比較像「一段被框出來的時間」——從某一刻到某一刻之間的那一截。你可以把它想成手裡握著一條「時間的長度」：有時你直接指這條長度（a while＝一陣子），有時你站在這條長度「裡面」做事（while it rains＝在下雨的這段時間內），有時你拿這段時間來打發。所有用法都圍著「同一段時間」這個畫面打轉。

原始詞典資料13 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

Whilename

  • 1

    A surname.

whilenoun詞源 1/ʍaɪl/

  • 1

    An uncertain duration of time, a period of time.

    • He lectured for quite a long while.
    • It’s a long while since anyone lived there, so it’s a ruin now.
  • 2

    An uncertain duration of time, a period of time.

  • 3

    An uncertain duration of time, a period of time.

whileconj詞源 1/ʍaɪl/

  • 1

    During the same time that.

    • He was sleeping while I was singing.
    • Driving while intoxicated is against the law.
  • 2

    Although.

    • This case, while interesting, is a bit frustrating.
    • While I would love to help, I am very busy at the moment.
  • 3

    Until.

    • I'll wait while you've finished painting.
    • To dark is still used in Swaledale (Yorkshire) in the sense of to lie hid, as, 'Te rattens [rats] mun ha bin darkin whel nu [till now]; we hannot heerd tem tis last fortnith'.
  • 4

    As long as.

    • While you're at school you may live at home.
    • While there's quiet I can sleep.

whileprep詞源 1/ʍaɪl/

  • 1

    Until.

    • I may be conveyed into your chamber; I'll lie under your bed while midnight.

whileverb詞源 1/ʍaɪl/

  • 1

    To pass (time) idly.

    • I whiled away the hours whilst waiting for him to arrive
    • Some were whiling the time by admiring the figures on the cloth of tissue.
  • 2

    To occupy or entertain (someone) in order to let time pass.

    • They whiled them with such answere as suted to their purposes, and long adoe was made in weaving and unweaving Penelopes web, till the Spanish Armada was upon the Coast, and the very Ordnance proclaimed in their eares a surcease from further illusions.
    • He sat her on the corner of the carpenter's bench, and parried or diverted her questions about her father, and the desirability of wakening him by handing her the long curled shavings; and when these palled, he whiled her on by the impossible task of teaching him her version of the 'Three Golden Balls' a blank-verse poem, but rhythmically intoned, which he had taught her.
  • 3

    archaicTo elapse, to pass.

    • The tedious hours whiled slowly on, 'till the succeeding afternoon, when the expected carriage made its appearance much sooner than they had promised themselves.
    • Years whiled. He aged, sank, sickened; and was not: / And it was said, 'A man intractable / And curst is gone.'

這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形：

資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。