mile

(mi)

   1. a traditional unit of distance. The word comes from the Latin word for 1000, mille, because originally a mile was the distance a Roman legion could march in 1000 paces (or 2000 steps, a pace being the distance between successive falls of the same foot). There is some uncertainty about the length of the Roman mile. Based on the Roman foot of 29.6 centimeters and assuming a standard pace of 5 Roman feet, the Roman mile would have been 1480 meters (4856 feet); however, the measured distance between surviving milestones of Roman roads is often closer to 1520 meters or 5000 feet. In any case, miles of similar lengths were used throughout Western Europe. In medieval England, several mile units were used, including a mile of 5000 feet (1524 meters), the modern mile defined as 8 furlongs (1609 meters), and a longer mile similar to the French mille (1949 meters). None of these units corresponded with the Scottish mile (1814 meters) or the Irish mile (2048 meters). In 1592, Parliament settled the question in England by defining the statute mile to be 8 furlongs, 80 chains, 320 rods¹, 1760 yards or 5280 feet. Using the international definition of the foot as exactly 30.48 centimeters, the international statute mile is exactly 1609.344 meters. (In technical U.S. usage, the statute mile is defined in terms of the survey foot and equals about 1609.3472 meters; this unit is called the survey mile). In athletics, races of 1500 or 1600 meters are often called metric miles. See also nautical mile.

   2. an informal name for mile per hour, sometimes seen on U.S. road signs with markings such as "Speed Limit 25 miles."