English

Alternative forms

• Myles

Proper noun

Miles

1. A male given name.
   • 1858 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Courtship of Miles Standish:

     Clad in doublet and hose, and boots of Cordovan leather, / Strode, with a martial air, Miles Standish the Puritan Captain.

   • 2011 Ali Smith, There but for the, Hamish Hamilton, ISBN 9780241143407, page 191:

     Just one thing, if I may, Mark said. It's Miles, his name. Not Milo.

     Yeah, I know, Anna's always going on about that too. But Milo's better, Milo's got something about it, hasn't it? the man said. It's catchier. It's catching on round the camp, Milo, where Miles sounds a bit, well, wet. A bit middle class, you know?

2. A patronymic surname​, also derived from a Middle English form of Michael.

References

• Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges: A Concise Dictionary of First Names. Oxford University Press 2001.

Anagrams

• limes
• slime
• smile

English

Noun

miles

1. plural of mile
2. (slang) A great distance.

   His final shot missed the bullseye by miles.

   From the top of the hill you can see for miles.

   No need to hurry. The deadline is miles away.

Statistics

Anagrams

• limes, slime, smile

French

Noun

miles ?

1. plural of mile

Latin

Etymology

Mid-15c., from Middle French militaire (14c.), from Latin militaris "of soldiers or war, of military service, warlike," from miles (genitive militis) "soldier," of unknown origin, perhaps ultimately from Etruscan, or else meaning "one who marches in a troop," and thus connected to Sanskrit melah "assembly," Greek homilos "assembled crowd, throng."

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈmiː.les/, [ˈmiː.ɫɛs]

Noun

mīles m ‎(genitive mīlitis); third declension

1. A soldier.
2. A man in boardgames such as ludus latrunculi and chess.

Inflection

Third declension.

Derived terms

Related terms

• mīlitāriter

Descendants

• Italian: milite
• Portuguese: mílite
• Spanish: mílite
• Welsh: milwr

See also

Chess pieces in Latin · latrunculi, milites scaccorum (layout · text)
rex	regina	turris	episcopus	eques	pedes

References

• miles in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• miles in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• MILES in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “miles”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• Meissner, Carl; Auden, Henry William (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to fire with courage: animos militum accendere
    
  • to give furlough, leave of absence to soldiers: commeatum militibus dare (opp. petere)
    
  • veterans; experienced troops: vetus miles, veteranus miles
    
  • a soldier lightly armed, ready for battle: expeditus (opp. impeditus) miles
    
  • to pay the troops: stipendium dare, numerare, persolvere militibus
    
  • to encourage, embolden the soldiery: animos militum confirmare (B. G. 5. 49)
    
  • (ambiguous) to levy troops: milites (exercitum) scribere, conscribere
    
  • (ambiguous) to compel communities to provide troops: imperare milites civitatibus
    
  • (ambiguous) to make soldiers take the military oath: milites sacramento rogare, adigere
    
  • (ambiguous) light infantry: milites levis armaturae
    
  • (ambiguous) soldiers collected in haste; irregulars: milites tumultuarii (opp. exercitus iustus) (Liv. 35. 2)
    
  • (ambiguous) mercenary troops: milites mercennarii or exercitus conducticius
    
  • (ambiguous) to keep good discipline amongst one's men: milites disciplina coercere
    
  • (ambiguous) to keep good discipline amongst one's men: milites coercere et in officio continere (B. C. 1. 67. 4)
    
  • (ambiguous) to take the troops to their winter-quarters: milites in hibernis collocare, in hiberna deducere
    
  • (ambiguous) to leave troops to guard the camp: praesidio castris milites relinquere
    
  • (ambiguous) to harangue the soldiers: contionari apud milites (B. C. 1. 7)
    
  • (ambiguous) to harangue the soldiers: contionem habere apud milites
    
  • (ambiguous) to disembark troops: milites in terram, in terra exponere
    
• miles in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, pre-publication website, 2005-2016

Spanish

Noun

miles m pl

1. thousands, plural of mil

   miles de años atrás = hace miles de años — "thousands of years ago"

Usage notes

• Miles is only used in the indefinite sense of the word "thousands":

miles de pesos – "thousands of pesos"

• Otherwise, the singular mil is used:

dos mil pesos — "two thousand pesos" ($2,000)

cien mil pesos — "a hundred thousand pesos" ($100,000)

Synonyms

• millares