while - Hamely Tongue
Source: The Hamely Tongue: A Personal Record of Ulster-Scots in County Antrim
Author: James Fenton
Comments: ‘The Hamely Tongue’ has been widely acclaimed as the authoritative record of contemporary (surviving) Ulster-Scots in its heartland of County Antrim where James Fenton faithfully recorded his dictionary items among a network of other native speakers over a 30-year period. This searchable online version of his book takes its text from ‘Part One’ of the fourth edition of 2014 and includes over 3000 word entries. The book preliminaries, supplementary word lists and end matter have been excluded.
while ~ (as in) a’ the while (see a’). a while bak some time ago. a while o part of (a day, etc.: It jaist taen iz a while o a day). this while for some time, now (haesnae been roon this while). this last while recently. whiles at times (Whiles a boady’s wiser sayin naethin); occasionally (A see him whiles, but naw affen). ye’ll etc. wait a while (i.e. indefinitely: Waitin for me tae cral bak? — they’ll wait a while!).
