/ maɪl; NAmE / noun
1.
[ C ] a unit for measuring distance equal to 1 609 metres or 1 760 yards :
a 20-mile drive to work
an area of four square miles
a mile-long procession
The nearest bank is about half a mile down the road.
We did about 30 miles a day on our cycling trip.
The car must have been doing at least 100 miles an hour.
( BrE )
My car does 35 miles to the gallon.
( NAmE )
My car gets 35 miles to the gallon.
—see also Air Miles , mph , nautical mile
2.
miles [ pl. ] a large area or a long distance :
miles and miles of desert
There isn't a house for miles around here.
I'm not walking—it's miles away .
3.
[ C , usually pl. ] ( informal ) very much; far :
I'm feeling miles better today, thanks.
I'm miles behind with my work.
She's taller than you by a mile.
4.
the mile [ sing. ] a race over one mile :
He ran the mile in less than four minutes.
a four-minute mile
•
IDIOMS
- be miles away
- go the extra mile (for sb/sth)
- miles from anywhere
- run a mile (from sb/sth)
- see, spot, tell, smell, etc. sth a mile off
- stand / stick out a mile
—more at inch noun , miss noun
••
WORD ORIGIN
Old English mīl , based on Latin mil(l)ia , plural of mille thousand (the original Roman unit of distance was mille passus a thousand paces).