While looking up “wile” (as in “feminine wiles”) using the wonderful GuruNet utility, I noticed that there was a definition for its usage in “wile away a Sunday afternoon” which I always thought was “while away”. “wile” in this context means “to pass time agreeably”. Curious, I looked up “while away” and there was an entry for that also, so I have not been abusing the English language (this time). That entry says “This expression is the only surviving use of the verb while, meaning ‘to spend time.’ [First half of 1600s]”. Neat.