Category:Mile

Mile, n. Etym: [AS. mil, fr. L. millia, milia; pl. of mille a thousand, i. e., milia passuum a thousand paces. Cf. Mill the tenth of a cent, Million.]

Defn: A certain measure of distance, being equivalent in England and the United States to 320 poles or rods, or 5,280 feet.

Note: The distance called a mile varies greatly in different countries. Its length in yards is, in Norway, 12,182; in Brunswick, 11,816; in Sweden, 11,660; in Hungary, 9,139; in Switzerland, 8,548; in Austria, 8,297; in Prussia, 8,238; in Poland, 8,100; in Italy, 2,025; in England and the United States, 1,760; in Spain, 1,552; in the Netherlands, 1,094. Geographical, or Nautical mile, one sixtieth of a degree of a great circle of the earth, or 6080.27 feet. -- Mile run. Same as Train mile. See under Train. -- Roman mile, a thousand paces, equal to 1,614 yards English measure. -- Statute mile, a mile conforming to statute, that is, in England and the United States, a mile of 5,280 feet, as distinguished from any other mile.

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---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Mile - (from Lat. mille, "a thousand;" Matthew 5:41), a Roman measure of 1,000 paces of 5 feet each. Thus the Roman mile has 1618 yards, being 142 yards shorter than the English mile.