Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

While \While\, n. [AS. hw[=i]l; akin to OS. hw[=i]l, hw[=i]la,
   OFries. hw[=i]le, D. wigl, G. weile, OHG. w[=i]la, hw[=i]la,
   hw[=i]l, Icel. hv[=i]la a bed, hv[=i]ld rest, Sw. hvila, Dan.
   hvile, Goth. hweila a time, and probably to L. quietus quiet,
   and perhaps to Gr. ? the proper time of season. [root]20. Cf.
   {Quiet}, {Whilom}.]
   1. Space of time, or continued duration, esp. when short; a
      time; as, one while we thought him innocent. ``All this
      while.'' --Shak.

            This mighty queen may no while endure. --Chaucer.

            [Some guest that] hath outside his welcome while,
            And tells the jest without the smile. --Coleridge.

            I will go forth and breathe the air a while.
                                                  --Longfellow.

   2. That which requires time; labor; pains. [Obs.]

            Satan . . . cast him how he might quite her while.
                                                  --Chaucer.

   {At whiles}, at times; at intervals.

            And so on us at whiles it falls, to claim Powers
            that we dread.                        --J. H.
                                                  Newman.
      

   {The while}, {The whiles}, in or during the time that;
      meantime; while. --Tennyson.

   {Within a while}, in a short time; soon.

   {Worth while}, worth the time which it requires; worth the
      time and pains; hence, worth the expense; as, it is not
      always worth while for a man to prosecute for small debts.

Worth \Worth\, a. [OE. worth, wur[thorn], AS. weor[eth], wurE;
   akin to OFries. werth, OS. wer[eth], D. waard, OHG. werd, G.
   wert, werth, Icel. ver[eth]r, Sw. v["a]rd, Dan. v[ae]rd,
   Goth. wa['i]rps, and perhaps to E. wary. Cf. {Stalwart},
   {Ware} an article of merchandise, {Worship}.]
   1. Valuable; of worthy; estimable; also, worth while. [Obs.]

            It was not worth to make it wise.     --Chaucer.

   2. Equal in value to; furnishing an equivalent for; proper to
      be exchanged for.

            A ring he hath of mine worth forty ducats. --Shak.

            All our doings without charity are nothing worth.
                                                  --Bk. of Com.
                                                  Prayer.

            If your arguments produce no conviction, they are
            worth nothing to me.                  --Beattie.

   3. Deserving of; -- in a good or bad sense, but chiefly in a
      good sense.

            To reign is worth ambition, though in hell.
                                                  --Milton.

            This is life indeed, life worth preserving.
                                                  --Addison.

   4. Having possessions equal to; having wealth or estate to
      the value of.

            At Geneva are merchants reckoned worth twenty
            hundred crowns.                       --Addison.

   {Worth while}, or {Worth the while}. See under {While}, n.