inchmeal
/ˈɪntʃmiːl
/adverb
By inches; little by little.Not like a lion, not like a lamb, more like a slug: winter is arriving inchmeal in the New York City region....
- Trench warfare in Pennsylvania cities is therefore inchmeal, and the results hard to measure.
- The warm water moves inchmeal to the east; the coast of America gets slowly but surely a thicker layer of warm water.
Origin
Mid 16th century: from inch1 + -meal from Old English mǣlum, in the sense 'measure, quantity taken at one time'.