awhile

From Old English ane (“(for) a”) hwile (“while”).

• IPA^(key): /əˈwaɪl/, /əˈʍaɪl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪl

awhile (not comparable)

1. For some time; for a short time.

   Sit with me awhile.

   • c. 1596–97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice‎^[1], act 1, scene 1:

     Gratiano:
     […] Fare ye well awhile:
     I'll end my exhortation after dinner.

   • 1944 May and June, “When the Circle was Steam Operated”, in Railway Magazine, page 137:

     Engine No. 18 went off into a shed to rest awhile, and No. 7, a precisely similar one, backed on to the train in her place.

   • 1979, The Boomtown Rats, “Wind Chill Factor (Minus Zero)”, in The Fine Art of Surfacing:

     I'll slip beneath these sheets and shiver here awhile / I find this happening more frequently these days

2. (US, south-central Pennsylvania) In the meantime; during an implicit ongoing process.

   Can I get you a drink awhile?

• Awhile to mean “for a while” is often considered incorrect to use with a preceding preposition, since one is already supposed: instead of for awhile, one should prefer either for a while or simply awhile. However, awhile as object for a preposition is used by renowned writers, is allowed by Merriam-Webster, and is consistent with how other adverbs of time and place are employed.

• In south-central Pennsylvania, awhile is typically always used to convey such sense; the word is separated as a while for the first sense, whether preceded by a preposition or not. Compare “You may sit awhile” (inviting a person to sit while they are waiting) and “You may sit a while” (inviting them to sit for a length of time).

• (for some time): for a minute, momentarily; see also Thesaurus:temporarily
• (in the meantime): for the moment, meanwhile, meanwhilst, the while

• while

• “'Awhile' vs. 'A While'”, in Merriam-Webster‎^[2], archived from the original on 17 October 2023: “Generally, the two-word form "a while" should be used when following a preposition ("I will read for a while"), or with the words ago or back ("a while ago/back").”
• “a while (also rarely one while)” under “while, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000: “(chiefly with the prepositions after, for, in, †within) […]”