While away is a funny phrase, since it can mean both the phrasal verb we are going to examine today and the phrase “while I was away”.
For example: While away from home, he started picking up entirely new habits. But remember that while also has the meaning of “ a period of time ” and that is precisely where the key to the meaning of while away lies .
This is because while away means “to spend a period of time” or “to pass the time”. The preposition away , in this case, creates the idea of something that is being “spent”, something that will never come back. It is the same idea contained in another phrasal we saw not long ago: do away with .
While away , then, means “to pass the time” or “to let it pass”, “to make it pass” or “to kill time”. The idea that the phrase conveys is that of leisure, leisure, laziness. In fact, although it is not generally used in a negative sense, we can use this expression to say that someone is “spending” or “wasting” their time. In this, while away differs a little from the simple phrase to pass the time , which is always used in a positive way.
Note that the form wile away is sometimes used even by native English speakers. But this is wrong – it is simply a misspelling of while . Although the word wile exists (and is pronounced the same way), it has nothing to do with while away .
Below are some examples that illustrate the different situations where while away appears. As always, here’s a tip: use Anki and write down some of the examples to review later and ensure good learning!
We whiled
away the afternoon playing cards in front of the fire .
That
‘s the spot where Sara and I used to while away the hours between lectures.
I used to knit a lot when I was pregnant just to while away the time .
We whiled
away the afternoon with a walk around the garden.
She whiled away
the hours watching old films.
When we were kids, we would while away the hours on rainy days just drawing pictures and reading books .
Don’t just while the summer away — set a goal for yourself and do something constructive.
Don’t waste your summer like this – set a goal for yourself and do something constructive.
I whiled an
hour away just staring at the sea.
Liz whiled away
the entire afternoon , snoozing.
I just love to while away the hours .
I had ten hours to wait
in Rome, so I whiled away the time wandering around the museums .
This concludes today’s post . Before we do, however, let’s take a look at a quote I really like, said by none other than the great Benjamin Franklin:
“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.”
As you can see, this is Old English – the phrase is about two and a half centuries old – but it can be understood well if you notice the use of the conjunction for (which we have already explained here ) and if you know that thou is simply a personal pronoun that has disappeared from current usage. In fact, thou was not used in Franklin’s time , and in this sentence it is only used to give the phrase an air of a proverb or something old-fashioned