whilst

adv

1. (not-comparable)Often preceded by the: During the time; meanwhile.

   “Nay, I prethee put on this gown, & this beard, make him beleeue thou art ſir Topas the Curate, doe it quickly. Ile call ſir Toby the whilſt.”

   “Hero. Leave, leave, tis novv too late. She is dead, her laſt is breathed. / Cleo[phila]. VVhat ſhall vvee doe. / Her[o]. Goe run, / And tell the Duke; and vvhilſt ile cloſe her eyes.”

   “What money have I bought with me? […] even but a small sum; something in hand the whilst.”

conj

1. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, literary, rare)Synonym of while.

   “Drivers must switch off engines whilst on stand.”

   “I ſaw a Smith ſtand with his hammer (thus) / The whilſt his Iron did on the Anuile coole.”

   “[…] Ile nere be drunk whilſt I liue againe, but in honeſt, ciuill, godly company for this tricke: if I be drunke, Ile be drunke with thoſe that haue the feare of God, and not with drunken knaues.”

   “VVell, make your mirth, the whilſt I bear my miſery: / Honeſt minds vvould have better thoughts.”

   “And thus with lame pretences they revive / Thoſe Lines when Dead, he bluſh'd at whilſt alive: / As if Mankind could not diſcern their Evil, / Without a naked Viſion of the Devil.”

2. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, literary, rare)Synonym of while.

   “[P]ray, step down to the cellar and fetch us a bottle of the Burgundy, 1678—it is the fourth bin from the right-hand turn—And I say, Craigie—you may fetch up half-a-dozen whilst you are about it—Egad, we'll make a night on't.”

3. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, literary, rare)Synonym of while.

   “His company must do his minions grace, / Whil'ſt I at home ſtarue for a merrie looke: / Hath homelie age th'alluring beauty tooke / From my poore cheeke?”

   “So then I am not lame, poore, nor diſpiſ'd, / VVhilſt that this ſhadow doth ſuch ſubſtance giue, / That I in thy abundance am ſuffic'd, / And by a part of all thy glory liue: […]”

   “There is a place near St. Paul's in London, called in the old records "Diana's chamber," where, in the days of king Edward I. thousands of the heads of oxen were digged up; whereat the ignorant wondered, whilst the learned well understood them to be the proper sacrifices to Diana, whose great temple was built thereabout.”

   “Whilst her appearance was an utter failure (as her husband felt with a sort of rage), Mrs. Rawdon Crawley's début was, on the contrary, very brilliant.”

4. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, literary, rare)Synonym of while.

   “Modern engine sheds of advanced design have also been built at Radyr, Abercynon, and elsewhere, whilst other depots have been remodelled and re-equipped.”

   “The face which emerged was not reassuring. It was blunt and grey, the nose springing thick and flat from high on the frontal bone of the forehead, whilst his eyes were narrow slits of dark in a tight bandage of tissue.”

5. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, literary, rare)Synonym of while.