Definition: mile

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Source: WordNet (r) 1.7 

mile
     n 1: a unit of length equal to 1760 yards [syn: statute mile, stat
          mi, land mile, mi]
     2: a unit of length used in navigation; equivalent to the
        distance spanned by one minute of arc in latitude; 1,852
        meters [syn: nautical mile, mi, naut mi, knot, international
        nautical mile, air mile]
     3: a large distance; "he missed by a mile"
     4: a former British unit of length once used in navigation;
        equivalent to 1828.8 meters (6000 feet) [syn: sea mile]
     5: a British unit of length equivalent to 1,853.18 meters
        (6,082 feet) [syn: nautical mile, naut mi, mi, geographical
        mile, Admiralty mile]
     6: an ancient Roman unit of length equivalent to 1620 yards
        [syn: Roman mile]
     7: a Swedish unit of length equivalent to 10 km [syn: Swedish
        mile]
     8: a footrace extending one mile; "he holds the record in the
        mile"

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) 

Mile \Mile\, n. [AS. m[=i]l, fr. L. millia, milia; pl. of mille
   a thousand, i. e., milia passuum a thousand paces. Cf. Mill
   the tenth of a cent, Million.]
   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.

Source: Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary 

Mile
   (from Lat. mille, "a thousand;" Matt. 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.