inch1 nouninch2 verb
inchinch1 /ɪntʃ/ ●●● S2 W3 noun [countable] 
WORD ORIGINinch1
Origin:
1000-1100 Latin uncia ‘one twelfth’EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- She looks every inch the high-powered businesswoman.
- Storms have dumped nine inches on San Antonio since Wednesday.
- The next bullet missed Billy's kneecaps by inches.
- Cut into rounds 1 inch larger in diameter than casseroles.
- Fourteen inches from the floor it's supposed to be, yet it's nearly tripping me.
- Hanns Ebensten describes the puppets as' marionettes, on strings, about fourteen inches high.
- He gave me an inch in a tumbler.
- Set the pumpkins in a baking dish and add 1 / 4 inch of water to the bottom of the pan.
- She could see that her hair had grown by perhaps half an inch.
- When Terrence Real was a boy, his father routinely threatened to beat him within an inch of his life.
Longman Language Activatorwhen something almost happens but does not
· I was laughing so hard I almost fell out of my chair.· The terrorists almost succeeded in blowing up the President's limousine.very nearly · She was very lucky. She very nearly lost her life.
to almost do something or almost be in a particular state: come close/near to doing something: · She was so angry that she came very close to walking out of the meeting.· Dad came near to changing his mind about lending me the car.be close/near to something: · The negotiations were very near to breaking down.
to very nearly do something, especially something dangerous or unpleasant: come within inches of death: · Coulson came within inches of death on a climbing trip in the Himalayas last year.come within an inch of doing something: · Manchester United came within an inch of losing the game.
: narrowly avoid/miss/escape etc to avoid something unpleasant or dangerous, although you almost do not avoid it: · Flying into the airport at Lima, we narrowly avoided a collision with another plane.· The article says Meyers narrowly escaped arrest in Rome last month.
a situation in which someone is almost killed or injured: · Mike's had two motorcycle accidents, plus a few other pretty close shaves.
British if something that you succeed in doing is a near thing or a close thing you succeed in doing it, but only at the last moment: · The Labour party won the election, but it was a very near thing.· Security forces managed to free the hostages, but it was a very close thing.
spoken say this when something bad very nearly happens but does not, especially when this is the result of good luck: · The guard began to search the pile of leaves where we were hiding, but then got distracted by a noise from the house. "Phew, that was close!" said John. "C'mon, let's get out of here!"
WORD SETSacre, nounacreage, nounavoirdupois, nounbaker's dozen, nounbalance, nounbarometer, nounbaseline, nounbasin, nounbaud rate, nounbearing, nounbecquerel, nounblack box, nounboiling point, nounbottle, nounbox, nouncalculator, nouncalibrate, verbcalibration, nouncc, centi-, prefixcentimetre, nouncircumference, nouncl, clock, verbcm, cu, cubic, adjectivecubit, nouncup, nouncupful, nouncwt, daylight saving time, noundeci-, prefixdecibel, noundecimalization, noundeflection, noundegree, noundensity, noundepth, noundimension, noundipstick, noundisplacement, noundoz., noundozen, numberelevation, nounfactor, nounfathom, nounfl oz, fluid ounce, nounfoot, nounft, g, gage, noungal, gallon, noungauge, noungauge, verbGB, Geiger counter, noungigabyte, noungill, noungirth, noungm, graduated, adjectivegraduation, noungrain, noungram, noungramme, noungrid, noungross, adjectivehandful, nounhectare, nounhertz, nounhigh, adjectivehundredweight, nounimpedance, nounimperial, adjectiveinch, nounindicator, nouninstrument, nounjoule, nounkarat, nounkg, kilo, nounkilo-, prefixkilogram, nounkilometre, nounkm, knot, nounl, latitude, nounlb, league, nounlength, nounlight year, nounliter, nounlitre, nounlow water mark, nounmax, nounmaximum, adjectivemean, adjectivemeasure, verbmeasure, nounmedian, nounmedium, adjectivemegaton, nounmelting point, nounmental age, nounmeter, nounmeter, verb-meter, suffixmetre, noun-metre, suffixmetric, adjectivemetrication, nounmetric ton, nounmg, MHz, microsecond, nounmile, nounmillennium, nounmilli-, prefixmillibar, nounmilligram, nounmillilitre, nounmillimetre, nounminus, adjectiveminute, nounml, mpg, mph, nano-, prefixnanosecond, nounnautical mile, nounounce, nounoverweight, adjectiveoz, pace, verbpart, nounpedometer, nounpint, nounplus, adjectivepoint, nounpound, nounpunnet, nounqt, quantify, verbquart, nounradioactive dating, nounradius, nounrain gauge, nounread, verbreading, nounrecord, verbreset, verbrev, nounrotation, nounrpm, rule, nounruler, nounscale, nounsea level, nounsea mile, nounseismograph, nounsensor, nounset square, nounsextant, nounsnowfall, nounsoundings, nounsq., subsonic, adjectivesundial, nountherm, nountimberline, nountog, nounton, nountonnage, nountonne, nountroy weight, noununit, nounvoltmeter, nounvolume, nounwatch, nounwatt, nounwattage, nounweighbridge, nounweight, nounwidth, nounwt., yard, nounyardage, nounyardstick, nounyd, zero, number
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY
a six-inch nail Derek leaned closer, his face only inches from hers. The bus missed us by inches. On several occasions, they came within inches of death. With her designer clothes and elegant hair, she looks every inch the celebrity. Italy deserved to win, though Greece made them fight every inch of the way.COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES The horse refused to budge an inch. 75,000 million cubic metres of gas Draw a circle six centimetres in diameter. Stan grew two inches in six months. He’s only 5 feet tall. The walls are about two meters thick.
a six-inch nail Derek leaned closer, his face only inches from hers. The bus missed us by inches. On several occasions, they came within inches of death. With her designer clothes and elegant hair, she looks every inch the celebrity. Italy deserved to win, though Greece made them fight every inch of the way. The horse refused to budge an inch. (=space in a newspaper or magazine)· Many column inches have recently been devoted to the troubled pop star.
75,000 million cubic metres of gas Draw a circle six centimetres in diameter. Stan grew two inches in six months.· Two inches of rain fell in twelve hours.
· More than eight inches of snow fell in 48 hours.
He’s only 5 feet tall. The walls are about two meters thick. (=not trust someone at all)
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE· These have a radius of about ten miles and densities of millions of tons per cubic inch.
· This is rather over 2000 tons per square inch.· Rats have less than a square inch of cortex, less than humans by a factor of 500.· You have more sweat glands and blood vessels per square inch in your scalp than any other part of your body.· In other words, Washington must remain urgently concerned about every square inch of the planet.· Pluto and Lawrence & Wishart were there, all 18 square inches of them.· Each pad, about a square inch, treats half a cubic foot.· That means its print head can squirt 1, 440, 000 little dots of ink on each square inch of paper.· He looked me over carefully, appraising every visible square inch.
NOUN· Meanwhile, there was the question of his presents, to which much time and many column inches were devoted.· Between this and stories on Burke of the Somme, Chant's death attracted a lot of column inches.· A column inch is one column wide by one inch deep.· We have this morning's here, Chock full of column inches on yourself.· Now it merits but a few column inches in a few papers.· The official excuse for a sudden wave sweeping every column inch of coverage is that a genuine revelation has occurred.· And by the spring of 1988, the column inches devoted to her in Britain's tabloids were adding up to miles.
· All these wheels are 16 inch diameter.· At the dome, as many as four pumps were running, pushing water out through 23-inch diameter hoses.
VERB· I mean, give them an inch ... The speculation about Lady Diana's trousseau continues.· It becomes ridiculous, but neither team wants to give an inch.· She had refused to give an inch.· He gave me an inch in a tumbler.· Neither side wanted to give an inch but there was no unpleasantness either.· I doubt that my stubborn friend, their lawyer, ever gave an inch, either.· Peacock proud and stubborn with it, neither giving an inch.· I was just a novice and he was fairly frightening, not giving an inch until he had sounded you out.
· She grew four inches in a year.· In a year he had not grown an inch or gained a pound, and no one had noticed.· Left: Fish of this size and quality were all grown on from 4-6 inch youngsters in only a year.· He had grown another inch or two but he was still plump and rosy, with a solid contented look about him.· The stout plant will grow up to 12 inches in slow-flowing rivers in their natural habitat.· Each fingernail grows about an half inch every three months, and toenails about a third of that rate.· Then I seemed to grow a couple of inches, and thin out.· They believed he would grow by six inches - but Steven added another two for good measure.
· Paula looked every inch a model these days, Arlene thought with a touch of proprietorial pride.· He speaks with a public school accent and looks every inch the business executive he, of course, is.· He looks every inch a chaser and, after a season off through injury, is back firing again.· At these moments he looks closely at each inch of her face, like a valuer frowningly examining some precious object.· And Natasha Wagner looks every inch a Hollywood beauty.· He looked every inch an ex-world-class racing driver.
· For this reason Contour is offering a free, no obligation trial - you've nothing to lose but inches.· She had lost 8 inches off her waist and a staggering 10 inches off her hips over a period of seven months.· He had lost 4 3/4 inches from his body.· I promise you've got absolutely nothing to lose but your inches.· Another ¾ from my tum and whilst my thighs and knees remain the same I've lost ¼ inch off each arm.· In the end only 11 percent said they did not particularly lose more inches than previous dieting attempts had produced.· She had lost only 1 inch off her 39 inch bust.· I have no doubt that you will have lost both inches and weight.
· The body itself was not much more than five feet tall, the coffin measuring five foot 6 inches in length.· According to her publicists, who had little else except her lubricious reputation to publicize, they measured 40 inches.· It measured six inches by four and was three quarters of an inch thick, with thread-bound pages.· It measures 42 inches by 42 inches in height and width.· Wrapped in a polythene bag measuring nine by 18 inches, the money was lying four inches below the surface.· It measures 3 5/8 inches in height and width.
· She had barely moved an inch when she was aware of the sound of footsteps.· Nobody colored was going to be allowed to move an inch more, much less claim bodies.· She had not moved more than a few inches when one of the men broke free, his fist smashing downwards.· Not stolen, we haven't moved it an inch.· We were the only ones in the cellar, apart from the barman who was too frightened to move an inch.· Jenny and Antony moved a few inches further apart, then giggled at each other because of the involuntary movement.· Deep breath, hold it, whirr, click, move up an inch, breathe again.· She moved a few more inches and made another plan.
· He rapped three times on the door of Room 144, it was opened a few inches.· If a child can open them more than four inches he could fall out.· There, under the apex of the roof, was a small window, open a few precious inches.
· He was a handsome man, standing five feet nine inches and weighing twelve stone.· With high heels she stood at least an inch over me.· The door stood open a few inches.· It stood open about an inch.· Noah stood six inches high, with a white beard to his knees and wading boots of real rubber.
· I didn't trust her an inch.
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRY► beat/thrash etc somebody to within an inch of their life► give somebody an inch and they’ll take a yard/mile
1 (written abbreviation in British English or in. American English) a unit for measuring length, equal to 2.54 centimetres. There are 12 inches in a foot: - And even with his size he didn't know what to do with Braden standing over him and not giving an inch.
- I was just a novice and he was fairly frightening, not giving an inch until he had sounded you out.
- Once on the ground again she tried pulling the horse, but still it would not budge an inch.
- He speaks with a public school accent and looks every inch the business executive he, of course, is.
- He was aware of every inch of her as he had never been aware of anything.
- I frel that it has, with every inch of my being.
- Now it's all ruined, every inch.
- Peterborough made them fight every inch of the way.
- The cold would grow solid, palpable, something to be felt with every inch of your skin.
- The Sharps estimate that they have hiked nearly every inch.
- This is an hour-long conducted tour in an old tram car, nostalgia every inch of the way.
- The old buses moved inch by inch toward the pyramids.
- But inch by inch they were being driven back.
- He was holding Maidstone's hat in both hands, turning it, feeding the brim inch by inch through his fingers.
- It crept towards her mouth, inch by inch.
- Lying on your tummy, raise your head and shoulders, curving the spine, inch by inch.
- She swallowed and closed her eyes, edging herself forward inch by inch.
- Then he climbed inch by inch up to Rainer.
- Today detectives undertook an inch by inch search of the area.
- Twenty times this monstrous frozen barrier slowly built up, inch by inch, and oozed south.
The curtains were an inch too short. Rainfall here is under 15 inches a year.a one-/two-/three- etc inch something a six-inch nail2a very small distance: Derek leaned closer, his face only inches from hers. The bus missed us by inches. On several occasions, they came within inches of death.3every inch a)completely or in every way: With her designer clothes and elegant hair, she looks every inch the celebrity. b)the whole of an area or distanceinch of Every inch of space in the tiny shop was crammed with goods. Italy deserved to win, though Greece made them fight every inch of the way.4give somebody an inch and they’ll take a yard/mile used to say that, if you allow someone a little freedom or power, they will try to take more5inch by inch moving very gradually and slowly: Inch by inch, he lowered himself from the roof.6not give/budge an inch to refuse to change your decision or opinion, even though people are trying to persuade you to do this: Neither side is prepared to give an inch in the negotiations.7beat/thrash etc somebody to within an inch of their life to beat someone very hard and thoroughly: Another word out of you and I’ll beat you to within an inch of your life.inch1 nouninch2 verb
inchinch2 verb [intransitive, transitive always + adverb/preposition] VERB TABLE
inch
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | inch |
| he, she, it | inches | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | inched |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have inched |
| he, she, it | has inched | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had inched |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will inch |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have inched |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am inching |
| he, she, it | is inching | |
| you, we, they | are inching | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was inching |
| you, we, they | were inching | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been inching |
| he, she, it | has been inching | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been inching |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be inching |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been inching |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- I inched my way across the crowded room to where Lou was standing.
- The car inched forward into the narrow parking space.
- We watched the cat inching along the ground, not taking its eyes off the bird for a second.
- As the number of voters backing Alexander has inched upward, so too has the number of those who view him favorably.
- I was inching forward now, and nothing was going to stop me.
- Masklin looked up as the trolley inched forward.
- One of the pods was inching its way out into space.
- She inched towards him, daring him to move before she had shaken off the latest man to accost her.
- The roar of the water coming down the gully drummed at my ears as I inched the Toyota into the bend.
Longman Language Activatorto move slowly towards or away from something or someone
if a vehicle crawls , it moves very slowly, because there is a lot of other traffic on the road, or because something is preventing it from moving at its usual speed: crawl along/down/up etc: · The old Buick barely managed to crawl up the hill.· We sat in the car with the radio on, crawling along behind a long line of other cars.
to move very slowly and carefully, stopping regularly, for example because there is not much space or because you do not want to be noticed: inch towards/forward/across etc: · The car inched forward into the narrow parking space.· We watched the cat inching along the ground, not taking its eyes off the bird for a second.inch your way along/towards/across etc: · I inched my way across the crowded room to where Lou was standing.
to move very slowly and carefully, stopping regularly, for example because you do not want to be noticed or because it would be dangerous to move more quickly: edge along/towards/across etc: · I started edging towards the door, hoping to slip away unnoticed.· He kept an eye on me as he edged across the room.· Billy edged along the ledge, trying not to look down.
if light, a shadow, mist, water etc creeps somewhere, it moves so slowly that you almost do not notice it; if someone creeps somewhere, they move slowly and quietly so that they will not be noticed: creep across/towards/up etc: · Clouds crept across the horizon, just above the line of trees.· Armed men in ski masks crept up on the van and raked it with gunfire.· As the sun began to set, long shadows seemed to creep out of the corners.· We crept down to the deserted library at the other end of the hall, so that we could talk.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES The horse refused to budge an inch. 75,000 million cubic metres of gas Draw a circle six centimetres in diameter. Stan grew two inches in six months. He’s only 5 feet tall. The walls are about two meters thick.
to move very slowly in a particular direction, or to make something do this: The horse refused to budge an inch. (=space in a newspaper or magazine)· Many column inches have recently been devoted to the troubled pop star.
75,000 million cubic metres of gas Draw a circle six centimetres in diameter. Stan grew two inches in six months.· Two inches of rain fell in twelve hours.
· More than eight inches of snow fell in 48 hours.
He’s only 5 feet tall. The walls are about two meters thick. (=not trust someone at all)
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB· Steadily the grey tide inched forward.· Calmly, he waited for Garcia to inch forward and flicked the ball over him for the lead.· Masklin looked up as the trolley inched forward.· The baby then begins to inch forward, using his legs primarily.· Do I inch forward confidently, eyes focused with determination on you-ahead, not back, down or sideways?· I was inching forward now, and nothing was going to stop me.· Swallowing hard, she crawled once more under the rail and inched forward, keeping her eyes on the ground as she went.· The students continued to inch forward, battling police for almost three hours.
· An interim inched up by 5 p.c. to 1.45p, payable on June 1, takes the yield to 2.9 p.c.· An underwater video shows the fuel assembly inching up, then swinging free.· Fifteen-year mortgage rates inched up to 7. 15 percent from 7. 13 percent.· She inched up on the competition, gaining, gaining, until she managed the impossible.· The plane inched up to the terminal, scaring him.· Her pillow inched up the wall.· The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index inched up 1.29, to 1241.23.· We inched up over the ridge and began our descent on to the high, tree-stippled plateau of far western Chihuahua.
NOUN· He can also slowly inch his way up the stairwell at a rate of 1 foot per round.· One of the pods was inching its way out into space.· With clenched teeth, keeping her head low and her eyes half-closed, she hugged the cliff-face and inched her way along.· It was 12: 21 P. M. Newfoundland time when the Friendship finally inched its way into the air.· Tom and Willie inched their way between them.· I memorize its features and inch my way toward the bookshelf.· Coming round one corner we were suddenly confronted by a large, dome-shaped rock inching its way steadily across our path.· George says softly to me as I finally inch my way past the last obstacle.
I inched forward along the ground.