inch
1a unit of length, 1/12 (0.0833) foot, equivalent to 2.54 centimeters. Abbreviation: in.
a very small amount of anything; narrow margin: to win by an inch;to avert disaster by an inch.
to move by inches or small degrees: We inched our way along the road.
Idioms about inch
by inches,
narrowly; by a narrow margin: escaped by inches.
Also inch by inch. by small degrees or stages; gradually: The miners worked their way through the narrow shaft inch by inch.
every inch, in every respect; completely: That horse is every inch a thoroughbred.
within an inch of, nearly; close to: He came within an inch of getting killed in the crash.
Origin of inch
1Other definitions for inch (2 of 2)
a small island near the seacoast.
Origin of inch
2Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use inch in a sentence
Not quite, but at one point the temperature registered 29 below zero, with 21 inches of snow.
Speed Read: The Juiciest Bits From the History of ‘Purple Rain’ | Jennie Yabroff | January 1, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTHe's short, five feet five inches or less, with unwrinkled skin.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days | David Freeman | December 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTI climbed into the crate—82 inches long, 26 inches wide, and 11.5 inches deep—in late October.
Christie Bows to Iowa’s Pork Kings on Gestation Crates | Olivia Nuzzi | November 29, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTFive feet two inches tall, Cecilia Benattar came from a working-class background in Manchester, England.
‘Housewife Tycoon’ Took On ‘Mad Men’ NYC Real Estate Market and Won | Vicky Ward | October 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe first machine, the 914—so called because it could copy on paper nine inches by fourteen inches—was a complex, clunky beast.
In cross-section the burrows varied from round (three inches in diameter) to oval (three inches high and four inches wide).
Summer Birds From the Yucatan Peninsula | Erwin E. KlaasSir Cadge was about the same age as the famous beauty, and rose quite two inches above her lofty head.
Ancestors | Gertrude AthertonIf the paper is about twelve by eighteen inches this will accommodate moderate examples of most of the fronds.
How to Know the Ferns | S. Leonard BastinHer tall figure—she was taller than he by at least three inches—was beautiful in its commanding, yet not vulgar, self-possession.
Bella Donna | Robert HichensOld feuds were settled in the old way and six inches of steel were more potent than the longest Order in Council.
The Red Year | Louis Tracy
British Dictionary definitions for inch (1 of 2)
/ (ɪntʃ) /
a unit of length equal to one twelfth of a foot or 0.0254 metre
meteorol
an amount of precipitation that would cover a surface with water one inch deep: five inches of rain fell in January
a unit of pressure equal to a mercury column one inch high in a barometer
a very small distance, degree, or amount
every inch in every way; completely: he was every inch an aristocrat
inch by inch gradually; little by little
within an inch of very close to
to move or be moved very slowly or in very small steps: the car inched forward
(tr foll by out) to defeat (someone) by a very small margin
Origin of inch
1British Dictionary definitions for inch (2 of 2)
/ (ɪntʃ) /
Scot and Irish a small island
Origin of inch
2Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for inch
[ ĭnch ]
A unit of length in the US Customary System equal to 112 of a foot (2.54 centimeters). See Table at measurement.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Other Idioms and Phrases with inch
In addition to the idioms beginning with inch
- inch along
- inch by inch
also see:
- by inches
- every inch
- give an inch
- within an ace (inch) of
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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