English Explanatory Dictionary

inch

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. An English unit of length equal to 1/12 of a foot or 2.54 cm, conceived as roughly the width of a thumb.
  2. Any very short distance.
  3. Any of various similar units of length in other traditional systems of measurement.
  4. A depth of one inch on the ground, used as a measurement of rainfall.
  5. A depth of one inch in a glass, used as a rough measurement of alcoholic beverages.
verb
  1. To advance very slowly, or by a small amount (in a particular direction).
  2. To drive by inches, or small degrees.
  3. To deal out by inches; to give sparingly.
noun
  1. A small island; an islet.
  2. A meadow, pasture, field, or haugh.
adj
  1. cocky and cheeky
verb
  1. to burn (to insult); to speak in a cocky and cheeky manner
name
  1. A town in County Wexford, Ireland.

Pronunciation

/ɪnt͡ʃ/ en-us-inch.ogg LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-inch.wav

Word forms

inch inches in in. ″ inching inched

Etymology

From Middle English ynche, enche, from Old English ynċe, borrowed from Latin uncia (“Roman inch, various similar units”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *óynos (“one”). Cognate with Middle Dutch enke (“thumb, thumb's width, inch”). Doublet of ounce, uncia, onça, onza, oka, ouguiya, and awqiyyah.

Synonyms

inchy

Related words

thou mil

Derived words

acre-inch a mile wide and an inch deep Big Inch budge an inch characters per inch column inch cubic inch dots per inch every inch give an inch give someone an inch and someone will take a mile give them an inch and they'll take a mile give them an inch and they'll take an ell half-inch half inch Inchbonnie inch by inch incher inchful inchlong inchmeal inch-perfect inch stuff inch tracker inchwide in for an inch, in for a mile Little Big Inch metric inch microinch miner's inch pixels per inch pyramid inch slinch square inch twelve-inch united inch within an inch of one's life within an inch of one's skin inch along inch away inch back inch forward inch up inchworm Inchlonaig King's Inch Kirkinch
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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