▪ I. inch, n.1
(ɪnʃ)
Forms: 1 ynce, ince, 3 unche, 4–6 ench(e, ynche, 4–7 ynch, 5–6 inche. 6 unch, Sc. insch, 4– inch.
[OE. ynce:—*unkja, a. L. uncia twelfth part, inch (cf. ounce). A word of early adoption, not in the other Teutonic languages.]
1. a. A measure of length, the twelfth part of a foot. Hence, a measure of surface and of solidity (explicitly square inch or superficial inch, cubic inch or solid inch) equal to the content respectively of a square or cube the sides of which are of this length.
| c 1000 Laws of æthelbert c. 67 ᵹife ofer ynce, scilling; æt twam yncum, tweᵹen. c 1000 Laws of ælfred c 45 Wund inces lang. c 1000 in Sal. & Sat. (Kemble) 180 He [Adam] wæs vi and cx ynca lang. c 1205 Lay. 23970 He wunde afeng feouwer unchene long. c 1300 Havelok 1034 An inch or more. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 3302 Þer ne wanteþ noȝt enches foure. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. cxxix. (1495) 937 An ynche is leste parti of mesures of feldes. c 1440 Jacob's Well (E.E.T.S.) 128 Þis is .v. inche thycke. c 1500 Melusine xix. 104 Whiche at his birth brought in hys mouthe a grete & long toth, that apyered without an ench long & more. 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 56 In..measures, we do go from a barly corne, to a finger breadth: from a finger breadth, to an unch: from an unch, to an hand breadth. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 193 The Princesse bids you tell, How many inches doth fill vp one mile? 1760 Phil. Trans. LI. 784, 9 London inches are equal to 8·447 Paris inches and decimals. 1824 R. Stuart Hist. Steam Engine 200 A column of water equal to ten pounds on the [square] inch. 1837 Whewell Hist. Induct. Sc. (1857) I. 163 Each inch being the thickness of six grains of barley. Mod. The gill contains 8·665 cubic inches. The pint contains 4 gills or 34·660 inches. |
b. As the unit of measurement of rainfall: That quantity of water which would cover a surface to the depth of an inch; equivalent to 3630 cubic feet on an acre, or about 42/3 gallons on every square yard.
| 1845 Stocqueler Handbk. Brit. India (1854) 264 The rains set in fairly at the beginning of June..Two inches in the twenty-four hours often fall; sometimes three. 1896 G. J. Symons Brit. Rainfall 20 On the western slope of Sca Fell, between it and Wastwater..mean fall about 90 inches. 1896 Whitaker's Almanack 53 An ‘Inch of Rain’ means a gallon of water spread over a surface of nearly two square feet, or 3630 cubic feet = 100 tons upon an acre. |
c. As the unit of measurement of atmospheric or other pressure: That amount of pressure which balances the weight of a column of mercury, an inch high, in the mercurial barometer.
| [1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Barometer, On the top of Snowdon-hill..Dr. Halley found the mercury lower by three inches eight tenths than at the foot thereof. 1835 Penny Cycl. III. 37/1 The mean height of the barometer in London is stated at 29·88 inches.] 1873 C. H. Ralfe Phys. Chem. 134 Oil, to which a few drops of bile have been added, passes readily through animal membranes under the slight pressure of 0·068 to 0·132 inches of mercury. 1896 Whitaker's Almanack 602 Atmospherical pressure was least, 28·6 inches, on the 14th [Nov. 1894]; greatest, 30·6, on the 30th. |
d. As a unit of measurement of the flow of water (esp. in mining, whence specifically called miner's inch): That amount of water that will pass in 24 hours through an opening of 1 square inch under a constant pressure of 6 inches.
| 1858 Lardner Hand-bk. Nat. Phil., Hydrost., etc. 238 The rate of discharge from the orifice is called the inch of water, and is the hydraulic unit by which the discharge from pumps is expressed. 1877 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 90 note, One 24-hour miners' inch is equivalent to 2,230 cubic feet of water. Ibid. 95 Water at that time cost 75 cents an inch. 1882 Rep. to Ho. Repr. Prec. Met. U.S. 646 The nearest even figure, is 17,000 gallons in twenty-four hours, and, in the absence of any legal determination, this may be regarded as the approximately correct equivalent of a miner's inch of water. |
2. transf. and fig. a. A very small measure, distance, amount, or degree; the least amount or part (of space, time, material or immaterial things); a very little; a ‘bit’. Esp. in phr. within an inch of one's life (or † skin): almost to the point of death; so as to be nearly killed; freq. hyperbolically and fig.
| a 1350 Birth of Jesus 40 in Horstmann Altengl. Leg. (1875) 66 Þe tyme hem Þoȝte longe Inouȝ, ech vnche hem þouȝte a sponne. c 1400 Rom. Rose 5101 But thou art not an inch the nerre. 1582 Bentley Mon. Matrones iii. 360 Neither will I suffer my selfe..to depart one ynch from thy holie commandments. 1594 Kyd Sp. Trag. iv. in Hazl. Dodsley V. 114 There is not left in him one inch of man. 1700 S. L. tr. Fryke's Voy. E. Ind. 76 Tho' thousands of their Men dropt, they would not give ground an Inch. 1726 G. Roberts 4 Yrs. Voy. 30, I will drub you, you Dog, within an Inch of your Life, and that Inch too. 1781 Cowper Let. 4 Oct., Wks. (1876) 85 That I may avail myself of every inch of time. 1839 Dickens Nich. Nick. xiii, I'll flog you within an inch of your life, and spare you that. 1854 B. P. Shillaber Life & Sayings Mrs. Partington 81 I'll be tempered to whip you within an inch of your skin. 1894 H. Nisbet Bush Girl's Rom. 156 He could not see an inch before him. 1896 W. D. Howells Impressions & Experiences 74 The defendent..had invited her to come down the street to a certain point, and be beaten within an inch of her life. 1909 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Avonlea xii. 126 The grammar class were parsed and analysed within an inch of their lives. 1932 ‘E. M. Delafield’ Thank Heaven Fasting iii. i. 250 She's always bullied Cecily within an inch of her life. 1939 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Ingleside i. 12 He said that..everybody else would be dressed within an inch of her life. Ibid. iv. 30 If I had talked to my parents like that..I would have been whipped within an inch of my life. |
b. Applied to material things: † (a) A small piece or fragment; (b) A person of small stature.
| 1573 Satir. Poems Reform. xxxix. 94 Thocht the wallis wes wycht, Ȝit dowbell battrie brak thame al in inschis. 1884 Black Jud. Shaks. iv, You imp, you inch, you elfin queen, you! |
3. Phrases. † a. at an inch, at inches: close at hand; (ready) at any instant; in immediate readiness. Obs.
| 1547–64 Bauldwin Mor. Philos. (Palfr.) vi. ii, Vpon this wicked rabble..crafty concupiscence waiteth as a seruant at inches. 1583 Rich Phylotus & Emelia (1835) 18 Attendaunt vpon her, and readie at an ynche to prouide her of any thing. 1586 J. Hooker Girald Irel. in Holinshed II. 144/1 In such a readinesse to be at inches with them. 1618 Fletcher Loyal Subj. iv. ii, Ile wait ye at an inch. |
b. by inches, inch by inch: by small degrees, by little and little, very gradually, bit by bit.
| 1607 Shakes. Cor. v. iv. 42 All swearing..They'l giue him death by inches. 1652 J. Collinges Caveat for Prof. i. (1653) B iij, They were forced to..reforme by inches. 1700 Congreve Way of World iv. xii, No, don't kill him at once..starve him gradually, inch by inch. 1719 F. Hare Ch. Authority Vind. 27 To dispute the ground inch by inch. 1833 Marryat P. Simple xxix, Wasting away, and dying, as they say, by inches. 1869 B. Wilberforce Sk. Lives Domin. Missionaries Japan 195 All these four martyrs expired by inches, after a series of torments. |
c. every inch: every bit, every whit; altogether, entirely, in every respect.
| c 1420 S. Etheldred 720 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 298 Þat ston was well ygraue..eueryche a neynche. 1520 Caxton's Chron. Eng. iii. 24 b/1 This man was cursed every ynche. 1605 Shakes. Lear iv. vi. 109, I, euery inch a King. 1684 Winstanley Rich. III, Life Shakspere, A man of Arms, every inch of him. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones vii. vii, I tremble every inch of me. 1809–10 Coleridge Friend (1837) III. 289 Lord Nelson was an admiral, every inch of him. 1893 Earl Dunmore Pamirs II. 336 His..companion..looks a soldier, every inch of him. |
d. inches = stature; of inches, of (considerable) height, tall. of one's inches: in respect of one's height or stature.
| 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. i. iii. 40, I would I had thy inches. 1687 T. Brown Saints in Uproar Wks. 1730 I. 73 A notable fellow of his inches, and metal to the back. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1852) II. 629 Beware of servants instilling the prodigious importance of master or miss beyond all others of their inches. 1809 Malkin Gil Blas v. i. ¶18 Pedro was what we call a tall fellow of his inches. 1885 Graphic 28 Feb. 214/2 In order to make the most of her inches she had acquired the habit of holding her head thrown back. |
e. by inch of candle: see candle n. 5 d. give him an inch and he'll take an ell: see ell1 1 b; also in extended use.
| 1546 J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 78 Whan I gaue you an ynche, ye tooke an ell. 1640 Howell Dodona's Gr. 8 For soveraignty where she gets an inch, stickes not some⁓times to stretch it to an ell. 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. (Househ. ed.) 311/1 Give John an inch in that way, and he was sure to take several ells. 1973 Times 21 Feb. 3/1 If you turn your back for an instant or give them an inch they will park their cars on it. |
4. a. attrib. and Comb., as inch-allotment, inch-diet; inch-deep, inch-high, inch-long, inch-thick, inch-wide adjs.
| 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. i. ii. 186 Gone already Ynch-thick, knee-deepe. 1655 Moufet & Bennet Health's Improv. (1746) 72 An exquisite thin Diet (called of Jobertus..the Inch-diet, wherein we eat by Drams, and drink by Spoon⁓fuls). 1682 Creech tr. Lucretius (1683) iv. 115 Little Puddles..Tho scarce Inch-deep. 1742 Young Nt. Th. ii. 360 Life's little stage is a small eminence, Inch-high the grave above. 1873 Young Englishwoman Apr. 194/2 Inch-wide lace. 1876 Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. ii. Spenser 189 Futile gossip and inch-long politics. 1884 Browning Ferishtah, A Bean-stripe 218 Aphis that I am, How leave my inch-allotment? 1899 Westm. Gaz. 11 May 4/2 Strings..of inch-wide black velvet. 1950 W. de la Mare Inward Compan. 89 From inch-wide eyes I scan their..flames. 1964 C. Dent Quantity Surveying by Computer iii. 31 The new 1-inch-wide eight-channel paper tape now in use on some computers. |
b. attrib. Containing an inch in any dimension; of the length, thickness, etc. of an inch; as inch-board (board an inch thick), inch-line, etc.; of the focal length of one inch, as inch object-glass.
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. vii. xviii. 383 A candle out of a Musket will pierce through an inch board. 1683 Kennett tr. Erasm. on Folly 93 To see through an Inch-board. 1836 Marryat Midsh. Easy (1863) 165 He asked Captain Hogg to bring on shore some inch line. 1837 Goring & Pritchard Microgr. 179 Suppose we have an inch triple achromatic object-glass. 1858 Simmonds Dict., Inch-stuff, deal plank sawn to the thickness of an inch. |
c. attrib. with prefixed numeral (two-inch, six-inch, etc.): Of the length, diameter, etc. of (so many) inches.
| 1559 in Boys Sandwich (1792) 739, xl m. of iii ynche plancke for the said jutties. 1698 W. Dampier Voy. 282 Condemned..to have three blows from each man in the ship, with a two-inch and a half rope on his bare back. 1798 Nelson Let. to Nepean 7 Aug. in A. Duncan Life (1806) 91, I have..brought off the two thirteen-inch mortars. 1825 Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 576 Three or four thicknesses of one and a half inch-deal. 1879 Daily News 12 Aug. 5/3 Fourteen of the Bacchante guns are seven-inch weapons. |
d. Special Combs.: inch-bones n. pl., fragments of bone used as manure (distinguished from bone-dust: cf. c); inch-measure, -rule, -tape, a measuring rule or tape divided into inches; inch-pound (Dynamics), the work done in raising a pound weight vertically through an inch (cf. foot-pound); inch-taped a. (nonce-wd.), covered with inch-tape; inch-worm, a name for a geometer caterpillar, also called looper or measuring-worm; also fig.
| 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. 353 The smaller bone-dust is ground the more effective it is as a manure..on the other hand large or drilled or *inch-bones, as they are called, remain longer in the soil undecomposed, but produce less immediate effect. On these accounts bone-dust is the more valuable manure for turnips, and inch-bones for wheat. |
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 377 (Hoppe) They all sell thimbles, needles, *inch-measures, bodkins, etc. |
| 1850 Dickens Dav. Copp. lx. 595 Neither will you find him measuring all human interests..with his one poor little *inch-rule now. 1896 Westm. Gaz. 9 Nov. 3/2 [He] measures the force of the temptation with an inch-rule. |
| 1884 ‘Edna Lyall’ We Two xxx, [She] has gone to fetch an *inch tape. |
| 1939 Dylan Thomas Map of Love 6 ‘His mother's womb had a tongue that lapped up mud,’ Cried the topless, *inchtaped lips. |
| a 1861 T. Winthrop Life in Open Air (1863) 123 All the green *inch-worms vanish on the tenth of every June. 1881 Harper's Mag. Oct. 656/1 A wriggling inch-worm,..awaiting..an opportunity to measure the length of your nose. 1949 Sat. Even. Post 12 Mar. 33/1 One evening the Main Line local hunched its cars together like an inchworm and skidded to a halt. 1954 Borror & DeLong Introd. Study Insects xxvi. 522 The larvae of geometers are the familiar caterpillars commonly called inchworms or measuring-worms. 1959 G. Mattingly Defeat of Spanish Armada xx. 218 There was only one offset to the exasperation of this inchworm progress. 1970 R. Lowell Notebk. 235 Have you ever seen an inchworm crawl on a leaf,..Feeling for something to reach something? |
▪ II. inch, n.2
(ɪnʃ)
Also 5 ynche, 6 Sc. insche.
[a. Gael. innis (ɪnɪʃ), genit. ìnnse (iːnʃe) island, land by a river.]
A small island. (Frequent in the names of small islands belonging to Scotland.)
| c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. Prol., I wes..made priowre Of the ynche wyth-in Loch-lewyne. c 1470 Henry Wallace ix. 1147 Bot in Lochlewyn thair lay a cumpane, Apon that inch. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 24 In the Sey selfe ar mony Iles and Inches nocht few, as the Mai, the Basse, the ile of S. Colme. 1605 Shakes. Macb. i. ii. 61 Till he disbursed, at St. Colmes ynch, Ten thousand Dollars to our generall vse. 1793 Statist. Acc. Scotl. VIII. 597 There are some beautiful islands which are called Inches. 1805 Scott Last Minstr. vi. xxiii, To inch and rock the sea-mews fly. |
b. Applied locally to a meadow by a river (as the Inches of Perth); also, to a piece of rising ground in the midst of a plain.
| 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth 476 Such parts of the Carse [of Gowrie], as are elevated above the common level of the country are called Inches (which word signifies islands). 1863 Lyell Antiq. Man iii. (ed. 3) 54 The Celtic name of Inch being attached to many hillocks, which rise above the general level of the alluvial plains. |
▪ III. inch, v.
(ɪnʃ)
[f. inch n.1]
1. intr. To move, advance, or retreat, by inches or small degrees.
| 1599 Sandys Europæ Spec. (1632) 213 And if he itch and inch forward one way for an ell, hee looseth an other. 1697 Dryden æneid ix. 1065 Now Turnus doubts, and..with slow paces measures back the field, And inches to the walls. 1812 W. Tennant Anster F. iii. xlv, Inching along in motion retrograde. 1881 Amer. Grocer 20 July, Boys who did not play fair..would keep reaching over the line in order to get nearer the marbles in the ring and have a better chance to knock them out. This was called ‘inching’, and ‘fen inchings’ was the warning against such unfair play. 1888 Chicago Advance 29 Nov., Meanwhile, the celebrated case, possibly, will be inching along toward some final decision. |
2. trans. To drive by inches or small degrees.
| 1667 Dryden Maiden Queen iii. i, And so inch him and shove him out of the world. 1692 ― Cleomenes ii. ii. (R.), He gets too far into the souldier's grace; And inches out my master. 1868 Browning Ring & Bk. iii. 617 Like so much cold steel inched through his breast-blade. 1895 Outing (U.S.) Oct. 10/2 The children..inched their chairs closer and insisted there was not room for her between them. |
3. To measure or compute the number of inches in.
| 1673 Shadwell Epsom Wells i, E'er a horse in your Stable, weigh him and inch him. 1690 H. C[oggeshall] Art Pract. Measuring (title-p.), Gauging and Inching of Tuns. 1718 Steele Fish-Pool 171 The Fish-Pool sloop being inched according to common gauging. |
4. inch out: a. To eke out by inches or small amounts.
| 1620 I. V. tr. P. du Moulin's Serm. Rom. i. 16.2 He hath inched out the skin of the Lion with that of the Foxe, adding craft to crueltie. 1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. II. 263 When I could not inch it out any further..I found my selfe then in that strait, that [etc.]. 1652–62 Heylin Cosmogr. ii. (1682) 206 The Women cutting off their Hair to inch out their Tackle. 1654 E. Johnson Wond.-wrkg. Prov. 173 Corn incht out with Chesnuts and bitter Acorns. 1679 A. Behn Feign'd Curtizan iii. i, Cou'd you not..throw in a little Love and Constancy, to inch out that want of Honesty of yours? 1878 Browning Poets Croisic 127 There stands Paul erect, Inched out his uttermost. |
† b. To deal out inch by inch, hence, by small amounts or sparingly. Obs.
| 1636 Henshaw Horæ Succ. 300 God..doth..not requite it with a little, or inch out His blessings. a 1656 Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 267 In the inching out of the possibilities of our assurance by nice distinctions. |
5. To divide or graduate into inches; to mark with lines an inch apart.