What is "within a while"

While \While\, n. [AS. hw[=i]l; akin to OS. hw[=i]l, hw[=i]la, OFries. hw[=i]le, D. wigl, G. weile, OHG. w[=i]la, hw[=i]la, hw[=i]l, Icel. hv[=i]la a bed, hv[=i]ld rest, Sw. hvila, Dan. hvile, Goth. hweila a time, and probably to L. quietus quiet, and perhaps to Gr. ? the proper time of season. [root]20. Cf. Quiet, Whilom.]

1. Space of time, or continued duration, esp. when short; a time; as, one while we thought him innocent. ``All this while.''
   --Shak.

   This mighty queen may no while endure.
   --Chaucer.

   [Some guest that] hath outside his welcome while, And tells the jest without the smile.
   --Coleridge.

   I will go forth and breathe the air a while.
   --Longfellow.

2. That which requires time; labor; pains. [Obs.]

   Satan . . . cast him how he might quite her while.
   --Chaucer.

   At whiles, at times; at intervals.

   And so on us at whiles it falls, to claim Powers that we dread.
   --J. H. Newman.

   The while, The whiles, in or during the time that; meantime; while.
   --Tennyson.

   Within a while, in a short time; soon.

   Worth while, worth the time which it requires; worth the time and pains; hence, worth the expense; as, it is not always worth while for a man to prosecute for small debts.