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While. [Archaic] Whilst the emperor lay at Antioch. Gibbon. The whilst, in the meantime; while. [Archaic.] Shak.

s part of the choral song. It was customary, on some occasions, to dance round the altars whilst they sang the sacred hymns, which consisted of three stanzas or parts; the first of which, called strophe, was sung in turning from east to west; the other, named antistrophe, in returning from west to east; then they stood…

To whip on the breech. [Obs.] Had not a courteous serving man conveyed me away, whilst he went to fetch whips, I think, in my conscience, he would have breeched me. Old Play.

To become less hot; to lose heat. I saw a smith stand with his hammer, thus, the whilst his iron did on the anvil cool. Shak.

e batteries; the woods afforded a good cover. Being compelled to lodge in the field . . . whilst his army was under cover, they might be forced to retire. Clarendon.

ife; death. His decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. Luke ix. 31. And I, the whilst you mourn for his decease, Will with my mourning plaints your plaint increase. Spenser.

A darling; a favorite. [Obs.] Whilst the birds billing, Each one with his dilling. Drayton.

about environed. Spenser. Environed he was with many foes. Shak. Environ me with darkness whilst I write. Donne.

addition of a letter at the end of a word, without changing its sense; as, numb for num, whilst for whiles.

. To evoke the queen of the fairies. T. Warton. A requlating discipline of exercise, that whilst evoking the human energies, will not suffer them to be wasted. De Quincey.

ustly, especially by trickery or frand; to bring to straits by oppressions and exactions. Whilst pope and prince shared the wool betwixt them, the people were finely fleeced. Fuller.

To foreshow; to presignify; to prognosticate. Whilst strange prodigious signs foretoken blood. Daniel.

e, stupid; as, a heavy gait, looks, manners, style, and the like; a heavy writer or book. Whilst the heavy plowman snores. Shak. Of a heavy, dull, degenerate mind. Dryden. Neither [is] his ear heavy, that it can not hear. Is. lix. 1.

A landscape. [Obs. except in poetry.] Straight my eye hath caught new pleasures, Whilst the landskip round it measures. Milton.

e by historical record; a myth; a fable. And in this legend all that glorious deed. Read, whilst you arm you. Fairfax.

xert their natural gravity . . . insomuch that I could not guess which was light or heavy whilst I held them in my hand. Addison.

g off, as of branches; that which is cut off; leavings. The loppings made from that stock whilst it stood. Burke.

In a manner appropriate to obsequies. [Obs.] Whilst I a while obsequiously lament The untimely fall of virtuous Lancaster. Shak.

A man-of-war's boat. Whilst our pinnace anchors in the Downs. Shak.

Hence, carelessness; negligence; heedlessness. He means, my lord, that we are too remiss, Whilst Bolingbroke, through our security, Grows strong and great in substance and in power. Shak.