miles
See also: Miles and mīlēs
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /maɪlz/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -aɪlz
Noun
miles
- plural of mile
- (informal) A great distance in space or time.
- His final shot missed the bullseye by miles.
- From the top of the hill you can see for miles.
- No need to hurry. The deadline is miles away.
Adverb
miles (not comparable)
- much; a lot (used to emphasise a comparative)
- Her new paintings are miles better than her older ones.
- 1972, Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, Knopf, page 129:
- The recipe was miles too strong.
Anagrams
- Imels, Liems, Selim, limes, milse, misle, slime, smile
French
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Noun
miles ?
- plural of mile
Latin
Alternative forms
- milex (Vulgar or Late Latin, Appendix Probi)
Etymology
Unknown. Possibly of Etruscan origin. The suffix seems similar to that of pedes, eques, veles, comes, but the origin of mīl- is opaque. A connection to mīlia (“thousands”), perhaps as "person going by the thousand(s)", is difficult to confidently motivate semantically.[1]
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈmiː.les/, [ˈmiːɫ̪ɛs̠]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈmi.les/, [ˈmiːles]
Noun
mīles m or f (genitive mīlitis); third declension
- (military) A soldier.
- mīles gregārius ― a private (lit., a "common soldier")
- (Medieval Latin) A knight.
- A man in boardgames such as ludus latrunculi and chess.
Declension
Third-declension noun.
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | mīles | mīlitēs |
Genitive | mīlitis | mīlitum |
Dative | mīlitī | mīlitibus |
Accusative | mīlitem | mīlitēs |
Ablative | mīlite | mīlitibus |
Vocative | mīles | mīlitēs |
Derived terms
- mīlitāris
- mīlitāriter
- mīlitārius
- mīlitia
- mīlitō
Descendants
- Italian: milite
- Piedmontese: mìlit
- Portuguese: mílite
- Spanish: mílite
- Welsh: milwr
See also
Chess pieces in Latin · latrunculi, milites scaccorum (layout · text) | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
rex | regina | turris | episcopus | eques | pedes |
References
- De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “mīles”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 379
- “miles”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “miles”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- miles in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- miles in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
- Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
- to fire with courage: animos militum accendere
- to give furlough, leave of absence to soldiers: commeatum militibus dare (opp. petere)
- veterans; experienced troops: vetus miles, veteranus miles
- a soldier lightly armed, ready for battle: expeditus (opp. impeditus) miles
- to pay the troops: stipendium dare, numerare, persolvere militibus
- to encourage, embolden the soldiery: animos militum confirmare (B. G. 5. 49)
- (ambiguous) to levy troops: milites (exercitum) scribere, conscribere
- (ambiguous) to compel communities to provide troops: imperare milites civitatibus
- (ambiguous) to make soldiers take the military oath: milites sacramento rogare, adigere
- (ambiguous) light infantry: milites levis armaturae
- (ambiguous) soldiers collected in haste; irregulars: milites tumultuarii (opp. exercitus iustus) (Liv. 35. 2)
- (ambiguous) mercenary troops: milites mercennarii or exercitus conducticius
- (ambiguous) to keep good discipline amongst one's men: milites disciplina coercere
- (ambiguous) to keep good discipline amongst one's men: milites coercere et in officio continere (B. C. 1. 67. 4)
- (ambiguous) to take the troops to their winter-quarters: milites in hibernis collocare, in hiberna deducere
- (ambiguous) to leave troops to guard the camp: praesidio castris milites relinquere
- (ambiguous) to harangue the soldiers: contionari apud milites (B. C. 1. 7)
- (ambiguous) to harangue the soldiers: contionem habere apud milites
- (ambiguous) to disembark troops: milites in terram, in terra exponere
- to fire with courage: animos militum accendere
- miles in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, pre-publication website, 2005-2016
Anagrams
- limes
Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈmiles/ [ˈmi.les]
- Rhymes: -iles
- Syllabification: mi‧les
Noun
miles m pl (plural only)
- thousands
- hace miles de años ― thousands of years ago
- Synonym: millares
Usage notes
- Miles is only used in the indefinite sense of the word "thousands":
- miles de pesos ― thousands of pesos
- Otherwise, the singular mil is used:
- dos mil pesos ― two thousand pesos" ($2,000)
- cien mil pesos ― a hundred thousand pesos" ($100,000)
Numeral
miles
- plural of mil