mile

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A unit of length equal to 5,280 feet or 1,760 yards (1,609 meters), used in the United States and other English-speaking countries. Also called land mile, statute mile. See Table at measurement.
2. n. A nautical mile.
3. n. An air mile.
4. n. Sports A race that is one mile long.
5. n. A relatively great distance: had to walk for miles in the airport.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. An itinerary measure, modified from that of the Romans, which was equal to 1,617 English yards: used in the British empire, in the United States, and, formerly, in most European countries. The ordinary or statute mile is equal to 8 furlongs = 320 perches or poles = 1,760 yards = 5,280 feet; it was rendered legal by a statute of the thirty-fifth year of Elizabeth's reign, which prohibited building within three miles of London. This mile was probably intended to be about the length of a minute on the earth's surface, but the perch, of which it is an exact multiple, already existed. The square mile is 6.400 square chains, or 640 acres. The nautical or geographical mile has been variously defined: see phrase below. The medieval English mile (divided into 10 furlongs) was equal to 6,610 feet or 2,015 meters. The old London mile was 5,000 feet. The miles of continental Europe were of the most various lengths, and mostly represented, as it would seem, multiples of some modified Roman mile. The ancient Scottish mile was 1,976 yards = 1.123 English miles; the Irish mile, 2,240 yards = 1.273 English miles (11 Irish miles being 14 English miles). The Welsh mile was nearly. 4 miles English. The following table shows the values of some of the principal miles in meters:
2. A contraction of Mademoiselle.

Wiktionary

1. n. A Roman unit of measure equal to 1000 (double) steps (mille passus or mille passuum) or 5000 Roman feet (approx. 1480m).
2. n. A track race of one mile in length; sometimes used to refer to the 1500m race.
3. n. slang A great distance.
4. n. informal One mile per hour, as a measure of speed.

GNU Webster's 1913

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

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a unit of length used in navigation; exactly 1,852 meters; historically based on the distance spanned by one minute of arc in latitude
2. n. a Swedish unit of length equivalent to 10 km
3. n. a former British unit of length once used in navigation; equivalent to 6,000 feet (1828.8 meters)
4. n. a large distance
5. n. an ancient Roman unit of length equivalent to 1620 yards
6. n. a former British unit of length equivalent to 6,080 feet (1,853.184 meters); 800 feet longer than a statute mile
7. n. a unit of length equal to 1,760 yards or 5,280 feet; exactly 1609.344 meters
8. n. a footrace extending one mile