Niles

[nahylz]

noun

a male given name, form of Neil.

Nile

[nahyl]

noun

a river in E Africa, the longest in the world, flowing N from Lake Victoria to the Mediterranean. 3473 miles (5592 km) long; from the headwaters of the Kagera River, 4000 miles (6440 km) long.

Compare Blue Nile, White Nile.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for niles

Historical Examples of niles

Niles, anticipation of the confirmation of their junction, 434.
An Account of Timbuctoo and Housa Territories in the Interior of Africa
Abd Salam Shabeeny
Mr. Niles Meriwether gives the cost of materials and labor for an 8-in.
Concrete Construction
Halbert P. Gillette
They were now, he knew, between the two Niles, which joined their waters at Khartoum.
The Dash for Khartoum
George Alfred Henty
Beyond Niles, in the middle of the highway, we found Wathope.
The Scarlet Plague
Jack London
The Egyptian Pro-consul lived in state at the confluence of the Niles.
The River War
Winston S. Churchill

British Dictionary definitions for niles

Nile

noun

a river in Africa, rising in S central Burundi in its remotest headstream, the Luvironza: flows into Lake Victoria and leaves the lake as the Victoria Nile, flowing to Lake Albert, which is drained by the Albert Nile, becoming the White Nile at Lake No, then flowing through South Sudan; joined by its chief tributary, the Blue Nile (which rises near Lake Tana, Ethiopia) at Khartoum, and flows north to its delta on the Mediterranean; the longest river in the world. Length: (from the source of the Luvironza to the Mediterranean) 6741 km (4187 miles)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for niles

Nile

one of the world's oldest surviving place names, from a Semitic root nahal "river." Unnamed in Old Testament, it is always merely "the river" (Hebrew yeor).