mil

¹ American  

[mil] / mɪl /

noun

1. a unit of length equal to 0.001 of an inch (0.0254 millimeters), used in measuring the diameter of wires.

2. a military unit of angular measurement equal to the angle subtended by 1/6400 of a circumference.

3. (less accurately) the angle subtended by an arc equal to 1/1000 (0.001) of the radius or distance.

4. (used formerly in pharmaceutical prescriptions) a milliliter.

5. a former bronze coin of the mandate of Palestine, the 1/1000 part of a pound.

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mil ² American  

[mil] / mɪl /

noun

1. Slang. a million.

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mil. ³ American  

abbreviation

1. military.

2. militia.

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mil ¹ British  

abbreviation

1. a US military department

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mil ² British  

/ mɪl /

noun

1. a unit of length equal to one thousandth of an inch

2. an obsolete pharmaceutical unit of volume equal to one millilitre

3. a unit of angular measure, used in gunnery, equal to one sixty-four-hundredth of a circumference

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mil. ³ British  

abbreviation

1. military

2. militia

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mil Scientific  

/ mĭl /

1. A unit of length in the US Customary System equal to 1/1000 of an inch (0.03 millimeter), used chiefly to measure the diameter of wires.

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Etymology

Origin of mil¹

First recorded in 1715–25; short for Latin millēsimus “thousandth,” equivalent to mill(e) “thousand” ( mile ) + -ēsimus ordinal suffix

Origin of mil¹

By shortening

Example Sentences

The quarterback alone, lured away from Duke this past offseason, cost a cool mil.

From Los Angeles Times

Use 5 mil painters plastic around the room in the corner where the wall and ceiling meet.

From Seattle Times

"These agreements were reached just recently, and we know that we have work with the PRC mil to do to solidify the next steps," Franchetti said.

From Reuters

“It is reasonable to believe that the Company could breach its $35 mil. liquidity requirement at any moment,” Stephens analyst Jack Atkins and associate Grant Smith wrote.

From Seattle Times

Ministry of Defence officials were trying to contact the Pentagon, whose domain name is ".mil", but accidentally sent the mails to Mali, which has the domain name ".ml", the Times newspaper reported.

From Reuters