- (abbreviation in.)(in Britain and North America) a unit for measuring length or height, equal to 2.54 centimetres. There are 12 inches in a foot.
- She's a few inches taller than me.
- a laptop with a 15-inch screen
- Each image measures 46 x 28 inches.
- a fat envelope about half an inch thick
- The snow is about one and a half inches deep.
- 1.14 inches of rain fell last night.
- Every square inch of available land has been built on.
- a metal tube about three inches in diameter
- They feed on leaves and may grow to two inches in length.
- Since I started jogging I've lost three and a half inches from my waistline.
- inch from something Babies focus best on objects ten inches from their eyes.
- a small amount or distance
- by an inch He escaped death by an inch.
- by inches The car missed us by inches.
- within an inch of (doing) something She was within an inch of being killed.
- They beat him (to) within an inch of his life (= very severely).
- inches (away) from something Her face was only inches from mine.
- inches (away) from doing something He was just inches away from scoring.
Word Originlate Old English ynce, from Latin uncia ‘twelfth part’, from unus ‘one’ (probably denoting a unit). Compare with ounce.
Idioms
See inch in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee inch in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishevery inch
- the whole of something
- The doctor examined every inch of his body.
- (figurative) If they try to fire me I'll fight them every inch of the way.
- completely
- In his first game the young player already looked every inch a winner.
give somebody an inch (and they’ll take a mile/yard)
- (saying) used to say that if you allow some people a small amount of freedom or power they will see you as weak and try to take a lot more
inch by inch
- very slowly and with great care or difficulty
- She crawled forward inch by inch.
not budge/give/move an inch
- to refuse to change your position, decision, etc. even a little
- We tried to negotiate a lower price but they wouldn't budge an inch.
not trust somebody an inch
- to not trust somebody at all
- He says he just wants to help you but I wouldn’t trust him an inch if I were you.
Check pronunciation:
inch