Mile
The mile is an English unit of length of linear measure equal to 5,280 feet, or 1,760 yards, and standardised as exactly 1,609.344 metres by international agreement in 1959.
With qualifiers, “mile” is also used to describe or translate a wide range of units derived from or roughly equivalent to the Roman mile, such as the nautical mile (now 1.852 km exactly), the Italian mile (roughly 1.852 km), and the Chinese mile (now 500 m exactly). The Romans divided their mile into 5,000 roman feet but the greater importance of furlongs in pre-modern England meant that the statute mile was made equivalent to 8 furlongs or 5,280 feet in 1593. This form of the mile then spread to the British-colonized nations some of which continue to employ the mile. The US Geological Survey now employs the metre for official purposes but legacy data from its 1927 geodetic datum has meant that a separate US survey mile (6336/3937 km) continues to see some use. While most countries replaced the mile with the kilometre when switching to the International System of Units, the international mile continues to be used in some countries, such as Liberia, Myanmar, the United Kingdom, the United States, and a number of countries with fewer than one million inhabitants, most of which are UK or US territories, or have close historical ties with the UK or US.
The mile was usually abbreviated m. in the past but is now sometimes written as mi to avoid confusion with the SI metre. However, derived units, such as miles per hour or miles per gallon, continue to be universally abbreviated as mph and mpg, respectively.
Mile (noun)
The international mile: a unit of length precisely equal to 1.609344 kilometers established by treaty among Anglophone nations in 1959, divided into 5,280 feet or 1,760 yards.
Mile (noun)
Any of English statute mile of 8 furlongs, equivalent to 5,280 feet or 1,760 yards of various precise values.
Mile (noun)
Any of many customary units of length derived from the Roman mile (mille passus) of 8 stades or 5,000 Roman feet.
Mile (noun)
Any of Chinese (里) or Arabic mile (al-mīl).
Mile (noun)
An airline mile in a frequent flier program.
Mile (noun)
Any similarly large distance.
“The shot missed by a mile.”
Mile (noun)
A race of 1 mile’s length; a race of around 1 mile’s length (usually 1500 or 1600 meters)
“The runners competed in the mile.”
Mile (noun)
One mile per hour, as a measure of speed.
“five miles over the speed limit”
Mole (noun)
A pigmented spot on the skin, a naevus, slightly raised, and sometimes hairy.
Mole (noun)
Any of several small, burrowing insectivores of the family Talpidae.
Mole (noun)
Any of the burrowing rodents also called mole rats.
Mole (noun)
An internal spy, a person who involves himself or herself with an enemy organisation, especially an intelligence or governmental organisation, to determine and betray its secrets from within.
Mole (noun)
A kind of self-propelled excavator used to form underground drains, or to clear underground pipelines
Mole (noun)
A type of underground drain used in farm fields, in which a mole plow creates an unlined channel through clay subsoil.
Mole (noun)
A moll, a bitch, a slut.
Mole (noun)
A massive structure, usually of stone, used as a pier, breakwater or junction between places separated by water.
Mole (noun)
A haven or harbour, protected with such a breakwater.
Mole (noun)
An Ancient Roman mausoleum.
Mole (noun)
In the kg of Avogadro’s number. from 1897
Mole (noun)
A hemorrhagic mass of tissue in the uterus caused by a dead ovum.
Mole (noun)
One of several spicy sauces typical of the cuisine of Mexico and neighboring Central America, especially the sauce which contains chocolate and which is used in cooking main dishes, not desserts.
Mile (noun)
a unit of linear measure equal to 1,760 yards (approximately 1.609 kilometres).
Mile (noun)
a race extending over a mile
“he rode the fastest mile of his entire career in 1914”
Mile (noun)
a Roman measure of 1,000 paces (approximately 1,620 yards).
Mile (noun)
a very long way or a very great amount
“vistas which stretch for miles”
“this is my favourite film by a mile”
Mile (adverb)
by a great amount or a long way
“the second tape is miles better”
Mole (noun)
a small burrowing mammal with dark velvety fur, a long muzzle, and very small eyes, feeding mainly on worms, grubs, and other invertebrates.
Mole (noun)
a spy who gradually achieves an important position within the security defences of a country
“a well-placed mole was feeding them the names of operatives”
Mole (noun)
someone within an organization who anonymously betrays confidential information
“the company is hunting for the mole who revealed details of planned job cuts”
Mole (noun)
a small, often slightly raised blemish on the skin made dark by a high concentration of melanin
“a mole on her arm had not been there at the beginning of the summer”
Mole (noun)
a large solid structure on a shore serving as a pier, breakwater, or causeway.
Mole (noun)
a harbour formed or protected by a mole.
Mole (noun)
the SI unit of amount of substance, equal to the quantity containing as many elementary units as there are atoms in 0.012 kg of carbon-12.
Mole (noun)
an abnormal mass of tissue in the uterus.
Mole (noun)
a highly spiced Mexican sauce made chiefly from chilli peppers and chocolate, served with meat.