inch
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
See also: Inch
English[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
From Middle English ynche, enche, from Old English ynce, borrowed from Latin uncia (“twelfth part”). Doublet of ounce, uncia, oka, and ouguiya.
Alternative forms[edit]
Noun[edit]
inch (plural inches)
- A unit of length equal to one twelfth of a foot, or exactly 2.54 centimetres.
- (meteorology) The amount of water which would cover a surface to the depth of an inch, used as a measurement of rainfall.
- The amount of an alcoholic beverage which would fill a glass or bottle to the depth of an inch.
- (figuratively) A very short distance.
- "Don't move an inch!"
- 1591, William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene iv]:
- Beldame, I think we watched you at an inch.
Derived terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
- → Assamese: ইঞ্চি (io͂si)
- → Hindi: इंच (iñc)
- → Indonesian: inci
- → Japanese: インチ (inchi)
- → Korean: 인치 (inchi)
- → Serbo-Croatian: и̏нч
- → Swahili: inchi
- → Turkish: inç
- → Vietnamese: inh
- → Yoruba: ínǹsì
Translations[edit]
unit of length
|
|
unspecified but very short distance
Verb[edit]
inch (third-person singular simple present inches, present participle inching, simple past and past participle inched)
- (intransitive, followed by a preposition) To advance very slowly, or by a small amount (in a particular direction).
- Fearful of falling, he inched along the window ledge.
- 1957, J. D. Salinger, "Zooey", in, 1961, Franny and Zooey:
- The window blind had been lowered — Zooey had done all his bathtub reading by the light from the three-bulb overhead fixture—but a fraction of morning light inched under the blind and onto the title page of the manuscript.
- 2012 May 9, John Percy, “Birmingham City 2 Blackpool 2 (2-3 on agg): match report”, in the Telegraph[1]:
- Already guarding a 1-0 lead from the first leg, Blackpool inched further ahead when Stephen Dobbie scored from an acute angle on the stroke of half-time. The game appeared to be completely beyond Birmingham’s reach three minutes into the second period when Matt Phillips reacted quickly to bundle the ball past Colin Doyle and off a post.
- To drive by inches, or small degrees.
- 1692, John Dryden, Cleomenes, the Spartan Hero, a Tragedy
- He gets too far into the soldier's grace / And inches out my master.
- 1692, John Dryden, Cleomenes, the Spartan Hero, a Tragedy
- To deal out by inches; to give sparingly.
Derived terms[edit]
Derived terms
Translations[edit]
to move very slowly
|
|
See also[edit]
Etymology 2[edit]
From Scottish Gaelic innis
Noun[edit]
inch (plural inches)
- (Scotland, Ireland) A small island; an islet.
- 1805, Walter Scott, “(please specify the page)”, in The Lay of the Last Minstrel: A Poem, London: […] [James Ballantyne] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], and A[rchibald] Constable and Co., […], OCLC 1001655651:
- The blackening wave is edged with white; / To inch and rock the sea-mews fly.
- (Scotland, Ireland) A meadow, pasture, field, or haugh.
- 1988, Alice Taylor, To School Through the Fields: An Irish Country Childhood, Brandon Ltd, →ISBN, page 6:
- An ivy-clad farmhouse surrounded by trees, it stood on the sunny side of a sloping hill at the foot of which the Darigle river curved its way through gold-furzed inches to disappear under a stone bridge into the woods beyond.
- 1988, Alice Taylor, To School Through the Fields: An Irish Country Childhood, Brandon Ltd, →ISBN, page 22:
- As these calves grew older they did not need to return to the farmyard for feeding as they were able to eat sufficient grass for themselves. They were then kept in the fields, known as the inches, along by the river[,] where they grew strong[,] and during the winter cold when grass was scarce[,] hay was carried down to them.
Usage notes[edit]
Anagrams[edit]
Middle English[edit]
Noun[edit]
inch
- Alternative form of ynche
Romanian[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Unadapted borrowing from English inch.
Noun[edit]
inch m (plural inchi)
Declension[edit]
Categories:
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɪntʃ
- Rhymes:English/ɪntʃ/1 syllable
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms borrowed from Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English doublets
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Meteorology
- English terms with quotations
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English terms derived from Scottish Gaelic
- Scottish English
- Irish English
- en:Units of measure
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns
- Romanian terms borrowed from English
- Romanian unadapted borrowings from English
- Romanian terms derived from English
- Romanian lemmas
- Romanian nouns
- Romanian countable nouns
- Romanian masculine nouns