Quite a while with the former (8)
I believe the answer is:
sometime
'the former' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'quite a while' is the wordplay.
'quite' becomes 'some' (I've seen this in other clues).
'a while' becomes 'time' (I've seen this before).
'some'+'time'='SOMETIME'
'with' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for sometime that I've seen before include "One day" , "On an undetermined date in the future" , "An indeterminate date in the future" , "On a future unnamed occasion" , "At an unknown moment" .)