somewhile

English

Alternative forms
  • somwhile (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English summehwile, summewile, sumwile, equivalent to some +‎ while. Compare Dutch somwijlen (“sometimes”).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈsʌmʍaɪl/, /ˈsʌmwaɪl/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)

Adverb

somewhile (not comparable)

  1. Sometimes; at one time or another; from time to time; at times
  2. For a while; at one time; for a time
    • 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “May. Ægloga Quinta.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC; republished as The Shepheardes Calender […], London: […] Iohn Wolfe for Iohn Harrison the yonger, […], 1586, →OCLC:
      Tho, under colour of shepeheards, somewhile / There crept in wolves, ful of fraude and guile.

Coordinate terms

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “somewhile”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Derived terms
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