mile (mil)

[ yards 5,280 feet; was rendered legal by a statute the thirty-fifth year of Elizabeth's reign, which prohibited building within three miles of London. This mile was probably intended to be about the length of a min ute on earth's surface, but the perch, of which it is an exact multiple, already existed. The square mile is 6,400 square chains, or 640 acres. The nautical or geographical mile has been variously defined: see phrase below. The medieval English mile (divided into 10 furlongs) was equal to 6,610 feet or 2,015 meters. The old London mile was 5,000 feet. The miles of continental Europe were of the most various lengths, and mostly represented, as it would seem, multiples of some modified Roman mile. The ancient Scottish mile was 1,976 yards = 1.123 English miles; the Irish mile, 2,240 yards = 1.273 English miles (11) Irish miles being 14 English miles). The Welsh mile was nearly age of a railroad-line; the mileage of a year's traffic on a railroad, or of travel through a country.-2. An allowance or compensation for travel or conveyance reckoned by the mile; especially, payment allowed to a public functionary for the expenses of travel in the discharge of his duties according to the number of miles pa ed over: as, the mileage of a sheriff, circuit judge, or member of Congre or of a legislature. Private travellers can obtain permi ion to make use of [post-horses] on payment of small mileage -dues. H. O. Forbes , Eastern Archipelago, p. 52.