BY INCHES • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of By inches

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/baɪ ˈɪntʃəz/ Listen

noun

Inch n.

A measure of length, the twelfth part of a foot, commonly subdivided into halves, quarters, eights, sixteenths, etc., as among mechanics. It was also formerly divided into twelve parts, called lines, and originally into three parts, called barleycorns, its length supposed to have been determined from three grains of barley placed end to end lengthwise. It is also sometimes called a prime (´), composed of twelve seconds (´´), as in the duodecimal system of arithmetic. Note: The symbol ´ is the same symbol as the light accent, or the "minutes" of an arc. The "seconds" symbol should actually have the two strokes closer than in repeated "minutes", but in this dictionary ´´ will be interpreted as "seconds". "12 seconds (´´) make 1 inch or prime. 12 inches or primes (´) make 1 foot." Note: The meter, the accepted scientific standard of length, equals 39.37 inches; the inch is equal to 2.54 centimeters. See Metric system, and Meter.

A small distance or degree, whether of time or space; hence, a critical moment; also used metaphorically of minor concessins in bargaining; as, he won't give an inch; give him an inch and he'll take a mile. "Beldame, I think we watched you at an inch."

By inches, by slow degrees, gradually.

Inch of candle. See under Candle.

Inches of pressure, usually, the pressure indicated by so many inches of a mercury column, as on a steam gauge.

Inch of water. See under Water.

Miner's inch, (Hydraulic Mining), a unit for the measurement of water. See Inch of water, under Water.

See images of 'By inches'

Etymology of 'By inches'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"By inches" Quotes from Famous Books

... one contains enough poison to kill a cat; if it was fixed right, I mean." He passed a thin, shaking hand over his face, and went on: "Do you want to fool with such things?—Not if you are wise. You see, the cigarette habit will kill you sometime, by inches, if not right away, or else drive you crazy; and no sane person wants to kill himself or spoil his health. That is what I am doing, though," he admitted, with a bitter smile and a sad shake of his head. "But I cannot stop it now. I have gone too far, and I cannot help ...

— Stories Worth Rereading • Various

... all of you; so she cannot forget it. She is a busy little woman, is Teresina; and when she gets a thought in her head, it buzzes, buzzes, like a fly in a bottle, and she will have it your Reverence is killing yourself by inches, and says she, 'What will all the poor do when he is gone?' So your Reverence must pardon us. We mean it all for ...

— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 09, No. 51, January, 1862 • Various

... a' lang about his bree, His tap-lip lang by inches three - A slockened sort 'mon,' to pree A' sensuality - A droutly glint was in ...

— New Poems • Robert Louis Stevenson

... within the bounds &c (limit) 233. Adv. by degrees, gradually, inasmuch, pro tanto [It]; however, howsoever; step by step, bit by bit, little by little, inch by inch, drop by drop; a little at a time, by inches, by slow degrees, by degrees, by little and little; in some degree, in some measure; to some extent; di grado in ...

— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget

... his way with a greater caution than before. Now he passed other sleeping forms, and even stepped over one whom he could not otherwise avoid. Finally, after more than an hour of intense anxiety and stealthy movement, only advancing by inches, and with frequent motionless pauses, he discovered the place of which he was in search. It was the mouth of the mine that the Indians had spent two days and nights in excavating. As he had conjectured, it lay very near the ...

— At War with Pontiac - The Totem of the Bear • Kirk Munroe and J. Finnemore

More quotes...