Inch ɪntʃ Half I Noun Bre Rain Fell

• 1.14 inches of rain fell last night.
• she's a few inches taller than me.
• a fat envelope about half an inch thick
• since i started jogging i've lost three and a half inches from my waistline.

inch

1. a unit for measuring length, equal to 2.54 centimetres. There are 12 inches in a foot.
• 1.14 inches of rain fell last night.
• She's a few inches taller than me.
• a fat envelope about half an inch thick
• Since I started jogging I've lost three and a half inches from my waistline.
2. a small amount or distance
• He escaped death by an inch.
• The car missed us by inches.
• He was just inches away from scoring.
3. the whole of something
• The doctor examined every inch of his body.
• If they try to fire me I'll fight them every inch of the way.
4. completely
• In his first game the young player already looked every inch a winner.
5. 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
6. very slowly and with great care or difficulty
• She crawled forward inch by inch.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. very close to something/doing something
• She was within an inch of being killed.
• They beat him (to) within an inch of his life (= very severely).

Word Origin

• late Old English ynce, from Latin uncia ‘twelfth part’, from unus ‘one’ (probably denoting a unit). Compare with ounce.